The Right School
by eskamobob21
Summary: Their semifinal game ends in disaster. Abe is devistated and wonders why he even decided to continue playing baseball. More to come, will be yaoi-ish in later chapters, T for teenage pottymouths
1. Chapter 1

Abe was sure there was something wrong with Mihashi. Abe couldn't place it, but it was there. Something was weird about the way the pitcher was throwing. He had his normal velocity, as unimpressive as it might be it was still intact. But there was something about the accuracy of the normally spot-on pitcher that had Abe questioning. It was not that Mihashi's pitches were wild or inaccurate, they were just off. But that was not the only thing that had Abe worried. It was Mihashi's eyes; they were inattentive and, well, dead.

Abe didn't know what to do. There was no point that Abe could bring up that would make the others believe him. He had asked some of the other players what they thought of the way Mihashi was acting and except for the fact that Mihashi was quieter than he normally was, although that too was arbitrary because now that Mihashi felt more accepted he became less weird, nobody else could see anything wrong with the pitcher. Even when Abe confronted Mihashi about it Mihashi lied to Abe. The dark haired catcher had no way to prove it of course but there was something wrong. Abe had studied his friend a lot since the season started. Abe had the pleasure of watching Mihashi grow and gain in confidence and grow while on the mound. Mihashi now stood a little taller, now held his head higher; but right now while on the mound Mihashi looked like hell.

It was the bottom of the seventh inning and Nishiura was down by only a run. This was amazing seeing they were playing the C-seed school. As much as Abe didn't want to admit it, Abe couldn't find anything wrong enough with Mihashi to make a case against him.

That is until Mihashi started pitching to this last batter of the inning. Mihashi had managed to get two outs with Abe's help. Now it was down to their ninth hole batter. Abe had gotten him out earlier with only showing him alternating curve balls curving from inside to outside; but with Mihashi in the state he was in Abe felt it better to get the out and check in on his pitcher during ground maintenance. He needed the batter to hit it away from the pitcher but keep it in the infield for an easy out. Mihashi's fastball would do the trick. If thrown low and inside the batter would pop it up to Tajima and the out would be theirs.

Mihashi didn't nod in understanding of Abe's sign. Instead the pitcher started his windup. This time Abe knew for sure that something was wrong. As Mihashi started the second half of his windup he started to wobble. At this point his face was completely flushed of any color and the boy looked as if he was going to be sick. The ball left Mihashi's hand but Abe could already tell there was a problem. Instead of being low and inside the ball rolled across home plate.

Abe was instantly on his feet and running toward his pitcher. He didn't care that it was a legitimate game in the middle of play. His pitcher needed him. Just as Abe reached the mound the smaller boy, who had been wobbling unsteadily since the last pitch, fell forward into his catcher's arms. Upon seeing their pitcher fall the rest of Nishiura were on their way to Mihashi's aid.

Abe could feel Mihashi trembling in his arms. He had a pale face and when Abe put his hand to the pitcher's forehead something felt off. The boy's weight was not what Abe had expected either; there was no way that this Mihashi was 50 kilos. Abe couldn't help but wonder if Mihashi, usually skinny, had always been this light.

Mihashi, who Abe had presumed had passed out, opened his eyes. Through half opened eyes he looked at Abe. "A-Abe-kun," Mihashi said. "Wha-what's going on? Why is everyone looking down at me?"

Abe quickly glanced around. The rest of Nishiura and even some of the opposing team had gathered around the pitcher. The officials had called the game and were now calling for an ambulance. "Mihashi, I-I knew something w-was wrong; why d-didn't you tell me?" Abe sputtered, his voice shaking with concern for his friend and teammate. Abe was scared, very scared.

"I'm s-sorry, Abe-kun," Mihashi replied. "I-I knew how much y-you wanted to w-win the game a-and I didn't want t-to let you d-down." Mihashi gasped.

Suddenly Mihashi's body shook even worse and he started retching. Abe turned the pitcher onto his side and up came what little breakfast Mihashi had had. Someone in the circle around them gasped and Abe saw it too: Mihashi's ex-breakfast was stained scarlet red. Mihashi turned back to his catcher. Abe saw the corners of Mihashi's mouth twitch into a quick smile that quickly faded as the pitcher closed his eyes once again and went limp.

'Oh Shit,' crossed Abe's mind. 'This was not going to be good.'

The ambulance arrived eternal minutes after it was called. Abe didn't notice what was going on around him until a stern hand shook him. "Abe, let go of him." He looked down and noticed that he had ensnared Mihashi's hand between his and was clamping down on it desperate not to let it go. Abe forlornly released Mihashi's hand and watched as the smaller boy was lifted onto a stretcher and into the ambulance. He wanted to get up, he wanted to follow his friend and stay by his side but Abe's body was riveted to the ground. Abe just sat there with the same astonished look on his face.

"Everyone, head to the locker room; Hanai-kun go to home plate and tell the official that we're forfeiting the game," said Momoe to the group. Then in a lower voice, "Tajima-kun, Abe-kun's in your hands please help him out." After giving her instructions Momoe nodded at Tajima and left to join Hanai at home plate with the officials. Without Mihashi the team _could_ go on, but after something like this there was no way anyone on the team would play; especially poor Abe the catcher.

Abe still sat there looking at his lap. What seemed like years and years ago he had held his friend in his lap and now that Mihashi was gone Abe felt empty and cold. "Abe, let's go get up," came a familiar voice that Abe knew from somewhere. He looked up and saw Tajima, who was squatting down to his level. "We need to get changed." Abe didn't feel like moving, but Tajima grasped his catcher under the shoulders and hoisted Abe to his feet. Tajima attempted to drag his friend into the dugout and found it pretty much impossible. Tajima was one of the smallest guys on the team of first years and Abe was one of the biggest. So instead Tajima swung one of Abe's arms over his shoulder and acting as a crutch he and Abe made their way to the locker room.

It took the entire trek back to the dugout for Abe to come back to his senses one by one. First he realized that his eyes stung, then that Tajima was half walking half dragging him back to the locker room, and lastly he remembered what happened which gave reason to a very intense pain in his chest. Abe was thankful for Tajima's support. His body was not responding and utter fear was resurfacing again. By the time he was at the bench in the locker room all hell broke loose. Sheer panic spread over Abe's body and mind that crippled him into a ball curled up on the bench. The shock had left him and the sight of seeing his friend, hell his closest friend laying in his arms was too much for Abe to take. It had been a few years since Abe had had panic attacks. Usually they were triggered by trivial things, but Abe could still feel how light Mihashi's pale and shaking body was. A clamp of fear was crushing Abe's chest as his eyes let out all of the tears stored up since his initial days in the seniors. He was done.

Tajima had started to take off his clothes, but the soft sobbing sounds coming out of the normally composed and commanding catcher sympathized with the small cleanup hitter. Tajima watched as Abe went from bent over while sitting on the bench to curled up on the bench. Tajima was also close to the pitcher. He hadn't been paying attention that closely to Mihashi even after Abe asked him what he thought about the way the Pitcher was acting. When Tajima saw Mihashi's last pitch roll across home plate he now knew what Abe was talking about. It pained Tajima to know what was going on but something inside him kept the scrawny third baseman under control and for some reason optimistic.

Tajima walked over to Abe. The catcher looked so small and helpless. Tajima could only guess as to how he was feeling. By far the person who Mihashi looked up to and respected the most was Abe. Abe might raise his voice and get angry at Mihashi a lot, but Mihashi was always following Abe's lead and doing whatever Abe asked. It was only natural that the two become very close. Without caring as to what the distraught catcher might do, a shirtless Tajima wrapped his arms around his tear-sodden teammate. Aside from Mihashi's condition, Tajima didn't care about anything except his friend. "Abe, I can only begin to imagine how you feel," said Tajima as he buried his face into Abe's sweaty hair, "the only thing I know is that Mihashi will be fine. You're stronger than this; don't let it overtake you. Fight through this. The sooner you get changed the sooner we can get to the hospital and check up on him." Tajima couldn't fight the urge and gave his friend one last squeeze and an indiscernible kiss on top of the catcher's sweaty head.

To Tajima's surprise Abe stopped crying. "Y-you're right Tajima," a somber Abe said. "I'm sorry for the way I acted. I-I still can't believe what happened."

Tajima kept an eye on his friend as they both quickly changed; putting their clothes on over their still sweaty bodies. Showers could wait, the hospital wasn't far away but the walk would take a few minutes and it would be better to see Mihashi now and relieve any fear and doubt that they might have.

Abe staggered out of the locker room followed closely by Tajima. Abe was still emotionally distraught over his friend's injury but he was done crying over it. Tajima was staggering a little as well. Abe was grateful for the third baseman. Abe didn't want to have to face the team after what had happened on the field. He was sure that everyone felt the same way but Abe felt that they didn't know how he felt. There was so much that Abe wanted to forget and he thought that Nishiura would be the place to do it, but things had turned out like they were before.

By the time Abe emerged from the locker room the sky was already beginning to turn red and orange. He guessed that he had been in the locker room for what had to be at least half an hour and was grateful that Tajima had gone ahead and told Momoe to go home without them. Abe was sure that Tajima had told her what went on in the locker room, although he probably would have told her about the incident himself. Abe knew that as the coach she had to know about stuff like this because it was vital to the structure and compatibility of the team. He knew all this, but there was still a lot that nobody knew and did not want them to know.

Tajima and Abe did not talk much as they walked the fifteen minutes to the train station. The pair stuck out on the train due to their worried faces and smelly bodies. The hospital was another ten minutes by train and by this point Abe was starting to act as weird as Mihashi. He was anxious to see his friend and felt uneasy about how late it had gotten.

The train station was across the street from the hospital. After the short stint crossing the street they reached the hospital. Abe noted how visibly upset Tajima was when they entered the building. He recalled the story about Tajima's great grandfather and why Tajima decided to come to Nishiura. At the time Abe had thanked Tajima's family for forgetting about him but now Abe hated himself for his past comment. Without Tajima's help Abe would still be in pieces back in the locker room.

Abe didn't notice how close Tajima was to him until the pair reached the reception desk and Tajima bumped into Abe's back when the catcher stopped. "Excuse me," Abe asked. "C-can you tell me what room M-Mihashi Ren is in please? He was recently admitted today and we wanted to visit him."

The receptionist, who had what looked like half a kilo of eye shadow on looked at the boys from under what had to be amazingly strong eyelids. Her lips twitched into a smile at the slightly disorientated boys and she looked down at a computer. Her fingers flew amazingly fast over the keyboard and in seconds she had pulled up the pitcher's file. "Mihashi Ren, third floor room 26, to the left out of the visitor elevator."

The two baseball players thanked the receptionist. It took them a few minutes to find the elevator and make it up to Mihashi's floor. One by one the boys ascended in room numbers until a dirty blond haired lady emerged from one of the rooms. It was Mrs. Mihashi.

"Oh, boys!" She gasped in surprise. "Ren is awake now but be careful; he doesn't have much strength at the moment."

"Mihashi-san," Abe started, "what exactly is wrong with your son? You don't seem that concerned."

Mrs. Mihashi smiled at her son's friends. "Ren has had this condition for a while now. You see boys; Ren has a fairly large ulcer in his stomach. It started as a small one his first year on the baseball team in junior high and grew to be pretty large by the end of his third year. He is actually doing a lot better now than he was before he came to Nishiura; although I was hoping his hospital visits would be behind him but it seems he is still very stressed about something."

Abe felt a little relieved yet immensely angry at himself. He was relieved to hear that it was an ulcer. Abe was worried that his friend was suffering from something much worse. Yet he was also almost uncontrollably mad at himself because he could not help Mihashi enough to keep him safe. Abe had promised at the training camp in the beginning of the season that both he and Mihashi would not get injured at all throughout their three years at Nishiura. Now his best friend was in a hospital bed on meds because he still had anxiety over the new team. Abe had not done his job as a catcher.

Abe followed closely by Tajima entered Mihashi's room. Mihashi was sitting up in bed watching TV and looking like his usual self. This surprised Abe who quickly thought about what Mihashi's mother had said and made him wonder how many times this had happened.

When Mihashi saw his teammates enter the hospital room he almost fell out of bed. The pitcher did not expect his teammates to visit so soon and was particularly fearful of what Abe would say about Mihashi loosing the game for the team. Mihashi never expected the catcher to visit this soon after he had been taken to the hospital. Mihashi figured by looking at the two boys that they had not even been home or cleaned up because they still had all of their baseball stuff with them. Mihashi knew that they had come to yell at him for not getting off of the mound. What worried Mihashi the most though was the look on Abe's face. Mihashi was not sure of what it meant.

Abe got the sudden urge to smack Mihashi. The moment he saw Abe the pitcher started fidgeting back and forth. Abe had the sudden urge to smack his friend and tell him to settle down but something about seeing his friend act like his usual self soothed Abe. He and Tajima walked over to Mihashi and sat next to the bed on a couple of generic armchairs in the ugliest cloth Abe had seen in a long time. "Mihashi," he said; the smoothness of his voice surprising everyone in the room including himself. "Your mother told us what's going on. I, I'm glad that it's only an ulcer but," Abe paused for a moment to collect his thoughts. The catcher gathered all of the sincerity and intensity he could and continued, "I'm sorry that you have been under so much stress because of me. From the bottom of my heart I apologize. I'm sorry."

Abe felt his eyes start to tear up again. If what Mrs. Mihashi had said was true and her son truly was under a lot of stress, it was almost definitely Abe's fault for it; after all while Abe controlled what happened in games it was Mihashi who was blamed for everything. Even off the field Abe was still ordering the pitcher around. Abe was starting to get sick to his stomach.

Mihashi sat there with a blank look on his face. He had expected Abe to yell at him for a wide variety of reasons, the biggest to Mihashi being that the team had to forfeit because of him. This turn of events was a major surprise to Mihashi. He had felt terrible for staying on the mound even though he knew that he was a lousy pitcher. "A-Abe-kun," Mihashi started, "I'm the one who should be sorry. Even though I know I'm a lousy pitcher I still decided to pitch." It was Mihashi's turn to bow his head now. "And now our season is done because of me. I-I understand if you guys hate me." Mihashi had been in this situation before and knew what was coming. Even in junior high he was at first accepted onto the team but they turned. His teammates always turned their backs on Mihashi and for good reason.

The only thing Abe could do was look at Mihashi. He had hoped to rid Mihashi of at least some of the negative sentiments that the pitcher had floating with him but it looked to Abe as if he had failed at that too. Abe was starting to lose his temper as well. The catcher suddenly leaned in and grabbed the pitcher's head with both hands. Abe wanted Mihashi to be able to see into his eyes, to be able to see the fire along with the truth; Abe wanted Mihashi to understand. Abe leaned in close to Mihashi and looked him directly in the eye, mere inches away from the now frightened pitcher's face. "Mihashi, this was not your fault." Abe had never tried to put as much truth and emotion into his voice before. "Do you remember what I told you at the beginning of the season? All you have to do is pitch as I tell you, the rest on me." Abe decided it would be best to keep Mihashi's face near his although he could not justify why he felt this way.

Tajima had been silent the whole time. Tajima knew that he was not the best at reading moods or approaching situations with any sort of grace, but this one was obvious even to him. Of course Tajima was worried, but Abe was more so. But when Abe suddenly grabbed Mihashi's face, Tajima sprang to his feet and was about to physically pull Abe off. Mihashi was his pitcher and Tajima didn't care who it was, if they were messing with his pitcher, his brother, then Tajima would do all he could to defend him.

Abe was surprised by Tajima's sudden actions. He was amazed to see Tajima get so defensive over Mihashi. The third baseman loomed over the catcher who was still gently but firmly holding onto the pitcher's face. Abe decided it was best to release Mihashi and reluctantly let his friend's face slip from his hands. Abe started to wonder why Tajima was so possessive over Mihashi. Those two were always together and even during their second game of the summer tournament when there was a misunderstanding between Hanai and Mihashi Tajima almost jumped on Hanai despite it being in the middle of a regulation game. Abe couldn't help but to wonder if there was something beyond friendship on Tajima's mind. Abe decided it would be better if he sat back down. "Sorry," he muttered.

Tajima eyed the catcher warily. Abe was a bit bigger than the cleanup hitter but that wasn't the reason why the third baseman did not want to have to put Abe in his place. Tajima knew deep down that despite being Mihashi's 'adopted' older brother he looked up to Abe; not so much in awe of Abe but more in admiration. Tajima knew he was an airhead at times and knew he couldn't control situations the way Abe could. There was a reason Abe was a vice captain.

The tension in the air hurt Abe a little. Mihashi has retracted himself as far into the bed as he could while Tajima's eyes kept flickering over to Abe. The mood here was bad; Abe needed to get Mihashi alone so he could talk.

"H-hey guys, where have you two been?" Came a voice from the open door. The speed demon Izumi smiled from the doorway while Hanai and Sakaeguchi stared in from the hall. Izumi got the feeling that he had interrupted something relatively important.

Abe looked at his watch and cursed under his breath but loud enough to make sure everyone had heard it. Abe needed to talk to Mihashi but it had to be alone, and with everyone here Abe knew that he was going get pissed off sooner or later. Besides, with everything that happened today there was a lot that Abe had to get off of his mind. "Sorry guys but I gotta get going; I have homework and I know that my parents are wondering where I am." Both of these were true but Abe simply needed to get out. The catcher bid his farewells to his fellow teammates and gave Mihashi an intense but short stare before weaving his way through the bodies and out the door. He quickly sped down the hall and out of the hospital.

When Abe got home his parents were waiting for him. Abe already knew what they wanted to talk about it and he really did not want this right now. As he walked by the living room his parents called out to him. "Can this wait? There's some stuff I need to do and I don't have the time." Abe didn't wait for a response; instead he trudged his way upstairs to his room. Abe dropped his bag off in his room. His thoughts from the day which were previously floating around in the back of his mind came to the forefront. Abe closed his eyes for a moment but the second his eyes closed Abe saw Mihashi's face with the same lifeless and cold eyes the pitcher had had while on the mound. Abe was bewildered by the sudden image and tears started to form at the corners of his eyes. It would be troublesome if Abe's parents wanted to follow up on their planned talk so instead of collapsing onto his bed like Abe had planned; he gathered a change of clothes and headed off to take a bath.

Once Abe closed the door to the bath he knew he was safe for a while. As Abe stripped down he thought about what happened throughout the day. The mind-movie of the game kept replaying through Abe's head. He could still feel his pitcher's scarily light body shaking in his hands. Mihashi had to have been under so much stress and pressure from the season Abe had no idea what he would have done in the same situation.

All of the emotions from the day now resurfaced. Abe had taken a big gamble coming to a no-name public school and struck pay dirt; but now he had taken that diamond he had found and through his own inattentiveness and carelessness Abe had successfully managed to allow his pitcher, his friend to suffer so much as to put him in the hospital. Abe acknowledged that he was a failure as a catcher for hurting his pitcher so much and especially as a friend for allowing all of this to happen.

And there it was again; the same pain and despair that Abe had felt during the senior league. Abe tried so hard to become a good catcher but it did not matter. Even after all of the time and effort Abe put in he was still a lousy catcher who could hardly catch his pitcher's balls. Suddenly Momoe's description of what a catcher's job was appeared in Abe's mind. Abe had thought that he had given Mihashi peace of mind but instead the smaller boy only suffered internally.

Abe felt a familiar pain in his chest. It felt like his heart was being clamped in a vice but Abe knew what it really was. The anxiety of the day that had built up in Abe's chest and in his mind now reached the limit. The pain in his chest and the overwhelming feelings of guilt and stress overtook the naked Abe and made him collapse to the floor curled into a ball. Tears now freely flowed from his eyes as Abe had his second panic attack of the day. He hated himself for being a bad catcher, for letting down the team, and especially for hurting Mihashi. Abe couldn't stand to face his team. Nishiura had done very well for themselves during the summer tournament so they were bound to get at least some new recruits for next year's team and there was a likely chance that one of those new recruits could turn out to be a decent catcher. Abe had taken a big risk coming to this unnamed school with a first year team, and after what he's done to almost ruin the team Abe knew he was not needed. He had made up his mind; if all Abe does is destroy the team and hurt his friends then Abe didn't deserve a spot on the team. Abe still needed to think about it a little more and wait for the right timing, but he knew that the he had to quit the team. This was the last and by the way Abe saw it the only good thing he could do for the team.

Even after making the decision to do what's best Abe still could not rid himself of the paralysis of the panic attack. He visualized how the team would react to the news and knew what they would say. The one variable that Abe couldn't foresee was how Mihashi would act. The pitcher was always volatile in his actions and even after he had grown close to Abe Mihashi still hid himself and his feelings from the catcher. Abe tried to picture how Mihashi would act when he found out but every possible scenario that Abe played out ended with devastating effects on Mihashi.

Abe couldn't take any more. The pain, the despair, these terrible thoughts and predictions were too much for the first year to handle. Abe could taste the tears that were flowing down his face and into his mouth.

The mentally destitute soon to be former catcher couldn't help but to laugh at himself. He was lying naked on the floor of his bathroom curled into a ball while crying and sobbing to himself. Abe truly was pitiful and it amused him to see how his plans for starting over as a new and stronger individual panned out to be nothing. Abe knew deep down that the next few years at Nishiura were going to be just like junior high.

Now that Abe had accepted the despair and hate there were going to fill his life he was a little more under control. Abe, filled with a new resolve, finished his bath in peace. He had a bit of homework that had to be done and occupied his time with that and promptly went to bed after.

The next day, Sunday, Abe woke late. He felt better in the dream world than he did in reality and knew that things were going to be difficult over the next few days. Abe checked his mobile and found that he had two new messages, one from Hanai and one from Mihashi. Abe quickly read over Hanai's message detailing no practice Monday after school instead they were going to have a team meeting in the morning. He hesitated when he got to Mihashi's mail. Abe was not sure what to expect but something made him anxious and uneasy.

"Abe you said you wanted to meet with me? I just got released from the hospital tonight. Please call me." The message was time-stamped late the previous evening. Abe hoped that Mihashi did not stay up waiting for Abe to call. Abe knew there was no way he could call the pitcher back so soon. It was certain that he had to talk to Mihashi and if he could run by the prospect of Abe's quitting the team. If Abe could 'hypothetically' run the scenario by Mihashi and judge his reaction Abe could come up with a plan to deal with the pitcher when he broke the news to the team as a whole.

It was just past noon when Abe got the mail from his teammates and he spent the next two hours debating how he wanted to handle the situation with Mihashi. Abe had to think of the right words to say to get his intentions through without Mihashi suspecting a thing. Numerous times throughout the two hour deliberation Abe dialed Mihashi's number but could not bring himself to push the little green button to send the call. The numbers on the screen laughed at the 'cool, calm, and analytical' catcher as he struggled with all his might to push that one little button.

Those two hours were hell. Finally Abe had enough and in a fit of decisiveness his thumbs flew across the keypad and jammed the little green 'send' button. Abe stuck the phone to his ear and waited. The soft ringing tone in his ear lulled Abe into a warm and fuzzy state of insecurity. When the gentle traitorous tones abruptly stopped Abe was caught off guard. "He-hello," the unmistakable voice of Mihashi rang through the earpiece and throughout Abe's mind. "Hello…" the voice repeated.

"Mmm. It's Abe," the catcher responded after the completely awkward silence. "Mihashi I, um, we need to talk."

"A-Abe-kun, what is it?" the pitcher asked.

The carefully orchestrated speech Abe composed in his head vaporized. "I, um, uh…" the catcher sputtered trying to remember what he needed to say. "I, um," things were getting bad. Abe felt like a jackass. "We need to meet up. Tonight if possible. Are you free?"

Abe grew exponentially more troubled as the seconds of silence ticked past. "Mmm," Mihashi finally grunted just before Abe gave in to the agony. "I'm b-buys right now, Abe-kun, but we c-can meet five."

"Five is fine with me. How about I meet you in front of the CD store?" Abe asked. Mihashi grunted in agreement. Abe hung up the phone and expected to feel better after taking some of the pressure off but in reality he still felt anxious. Abe completely forgot what he had planned to say to Mihashi and now has to inform Mihashi face to face.

It was four thirty before Abe knew it. He had spent almost the entire time in his room spare a brief stint into the kitchen. Now it was time for Abe to meet up with Mihashi and attempt to gage his reaction. Abe had never dreaded anything more in his life.

The sky was turning an array of beautiful colors by the time Abe got to the CD store. Mihashi was leaning against the store's brick facing waiting for him to arrive. The smaller boy looked to Abe to be still very pale and weary. The black haired catcher felt horrible for what he was going to have to put his pitcher through. He felt horrible yet Abe knew it was for the best.

"Mihashi how are you feeling?" Abe asked his friend.

"I-I'm good, Abe-kun," the meek pitcher replied.

Another lie. The fact that Mihashi would still lie to Abe was testament to the pitcher's distrust in the catcher. "Mihashi, do you mind if we take a walk?"

After a moment Mihashi nodded and pushed himself from against the wall. He joined Abe and together the two boys wandered down the street.

The two walked in silence for a few blocks. Abe had a hard time organizing his thoughts. Abe wanted to get his feelings across to Mihashi and have the pitcher but Abe didn't know how or where to start. He was getting nervous.

The silence was unbearable. Abe had to say something; had to get Mihashi talking instead of the eerie Mihashi being too quiet and too calm. "Um, M-Mihashi," Abe silently cursed his wavering voice. He took a deep breath and continued, "Are you hungry? We should get something to eat. What do you feel like?" Abe hung his head. He was so flustered he could not think strait. 'Damn,' he thought, 'damn.'

Mihashi nodded his head. Abe needed to find someplace close. He knew that even though Mihashi was in pretty good shape he had passed out the day before and spent some time in the hospital so walking all over the city was out of the question. There was a small and unassuming ramen shop relatively close to the CD store that Abe had eaten at a few weeks before and thought that that would be best both on Mihashi's stomach and for having a peaceful conversation.

The ramen shop was just off the main street and much to Abe's thanksgiving was deserted. The shop was quite small with seating for only 15 people but the ramen here was legendary, or at least Abe believed so. The two walked to the counter and placed their orders. Abe ordered the beef ramen and was surprised when Mihashi did not say a word. "Go ahead and order Mi-Mihashi; my treat," the catcher said.

The plump but amazingly sweet latter middle aged lady behind the counter gave the boys a smile that Abe swore almost gave him diabetes. Out of the corner of his eye the dark hair boy saw Mihashi's shoulders relax a bit at the older woman's kind gesture. Abe knew he made the right choice in coming here.

After Mihashi ordered a bowl of miso ramen the two boys took a seat near the window. This was Abe's custom seat where he spent much of his junior high years fighting the battles in his head. The sweet old lady, Abe never found out her name, had often helped Abe through many of his difficult situations that he just could not talk to his parents about. It was not that he hated his parents; on the contrary they were very good to him but Abe felt like he could not connect with his parents. They lived in one world and he lived in another. The ramen shop owner was kind to him and always helped whenever he needed it. She gave the two boys another sugary sweet smile as she delivered the two bowls of ramen.

"S-so Abe-k-kun," Mihashi spoke up taking Abe a bit by surprise, "what d-did you want t-to talk to me a-about?"

Abe tried to rack his mind for his well rehearsed ploy to test Mihashi's reaction. "Well, um," Abe started trying to buy himself some time. For the life of him Abe could not think of what he had planned. Abe was not the kind of guy to get terribly nervous and forget everything but since seeing his friend limp in his arms Abe was having a hard time focusing.

'Screw it,' Abe thought to himself, 'better to get it out while we're here and alone than make things more awkward between us.'

Abe looked up at his friend across the table. "Mihashi," Abe started again, "I first and foremost want to say that no matter what you think, no matter what you believe, the game yesterday was my fault."

"Bu-but Abe-kun–" Mihashi tried to interject.

"No Mihashi," Abe stated firmly. "I told you at the start of the season that all you have to do is pitch as I tell you. I knew you were feeling bad but to be honest you were pitching very well. I couldn't find any reason to make a scene out of it."

"But I," Mihashi interrupted.

"Mihashi let me finish," Abe growled. After reestablishing his dominance of the conversation Abe continued in a much softer and gentler tone, "please." Abe closed his eyes and gathered his thoughts. "Secondly, Mihashi, I'm sorry for this season. Tajima and I ran into your mom before we visited you. She told us that the reason you passed out was because of the ulcer you got during junior high was acting up again. I know that you have had a difficult season here and I was trying to show you that you can be an amazing pitcher. I know I lost my temper with you quite frequently this past season and I now understand how hard it has been on you. I was hoping to force you to recognize how strong you are both as a pitcher but more importantly as a person but it looks like all I did was put you under a tremendous amount of stress and anxiety. It is for making your life here at Nishiura as bad as what it was at Mihoshi that I want to apologize."

Abe felt better after getting his main grievance off his chest. The anxiety that strangled his heart and enveloped his mind was slowly starting to lift itself. All that was left was to subliminally let Mihashi know that Abe was quitting the team.

"And lastly, Mihashi, I wanted to tell you that I–" a pain shot through Abe's side. He showed no sign of the pain but knew the reason why it was there. "That I–" the pain throbbed again. Abe was beginning to get frustrated. No matter what Abe had to tell Mihashi. He took a deep breath and finished, "that I won't be playing baseball anymore."

'So much for a subtle hint,' Abe thought to himself.

The silence coming from across the table started to scare Abe. Mihashi was just looking at the dark haired boy, the only movement Abe could see was Mihashi's chest expanding and contracting with each breath.

"Huh?" Mihashi finally uttered.

"Mihashi," Abe had to say the dirty blonde's name but why he didn't know. "I am the reason for all of your stress, all of your anxiety, and all of your pain here at Nishiura. As a member of the team I must do what is best for the team and if something is hurting the team in any way I must do my job as both a member of the team and an assistant captain of the team to do what is best for everyone. I single handedly destroyed Nishiura's best weapon and central factor. That is unacceptable."

Abe bowed his head, staring at his now empty bowl of ramen. "Also I have hurt you. I reopened the wound inflicted during the worst time of your life; that means that I am causing you to go through the same trouble and hardship that you went through at Mihoshi Academy. I am a failure both as a catcher but more importantly as a friend. I couldn't help you, I couldn't save you, and most important I only made things worse. Next year there will be a new set of recruits for the baseball team; there is bound to be a decent catcher amongst them and if there is not then I'm sure you and Tajima will do fine as a battery." Abe wiped away the tears that were starting to form around his eyes. So much for giving Mihashi only a subtle hint. Now there was nothing left to do but try to make sure nothing terrible happened.

The pair sat in silence for what Abe felt was an eternity. Mihashi did not flinch, did not speak, did not move a muscle, and he definitely did not act like the usual Mihashi. Abe was starting to grow worried.

"A-Abe-kun," Mihashi spoke. Abe was slightly relieved that the smaller boy had taken everything in and was able to process it. "I, um, we, um," the pitcher was stuttering now; "y-you shouldn't quit," he finally responded, his voice trailing off as he finished the last few words. Abe got the feeling that he really wanted to say more but that Mihashi did not think it was his place to. Abe sat there and waited for Mihashi to pick up that it was alright for him to continue. After a deep breath the dirty blond continued. "Without you, Abe-kun, I-I'm just a lousy pitcher w-with a slow fastball. I need y-you behind the plate to t-tell me what to do." Mihashi let his head slump forward as he said this.

Abe looked at Mihashi. These were all things Abe had said to himself throughout the season; that without Abe Mihashi was only a mediocre pitcher.

Mihashi's head shot straight up and he locked eyes with Abe. "Um, A-Abe-kun, I don't th-think that you're a b-bad friend." Mihashi had tears forming around his eyes. "I wanted t-to be N-Nishiura's ace. I-I'm glad you pu-pushed me like you d-did. A-Abe-kun showed me w-what it's like to b-be a real ace; to ha-have a real," Mihashi paused and wiped away the tears from his cheeks, "a real fr-friend."

Anyone else would be delighted to hear that, especially at a time like this. Unfortunately Abe was not a normal person. His cold prickly personality made it hard for him to make friends and he knew it. Because of this Abe was not exactly at the top of the social pyramid and had a hard time making lasting relationships. Abe never showed much of an interest in anything besides baseball and because of that hardly ever talked to the people around him. This was apparent to him at Nishiura, a place where he tried his best to be a friendlier and more outgoing person, Abe was still unable to take down his personal barriers and essentially alienated himself from those around him.

Abe had so many things he wanted to say to the pitcher. Instead he continued Mihashi's unwavering eye contact and said, "Mihashi, I'm not exactly a great guy to be friends with."

"Abe-kun, no matter what you will always be my friend," Mihashi said in a voice that Abe had never heard. It was clear, focused, and unwavering; completely unlike anything that Abe ever expected from Mihashi. The pitcher quickly looked away as if he was ashamed at what he just said.

The pitcher suddenly stood and without even looking at Abe said "I-I better get g-going. I will see y-you at the m-meeting tomorrow m-morning." The old stuttering Mihashi was back and seemed to be embarrassed at what he had said previously.

Before Abe could say a word the dirty blond walked out the door and quickly disappeared from sight. Abe was left alone trying to figure out what the Mihashi had said. It was apparent to Abe that he was a terrible person who did nothing but hurt Mihashi and drove him mentally and physically back to when he was in junior high. Why would Mihashi say that Abe would always be his friend? Abe was a terrible person who should not have any friends; all that would come of being Abe's friend was more pain for Mihashi.

"He's right you know," the ramen shop owner said. She was leaning on the counter by the cash register with her head resting on her hands. "I can't say that I know you personally or what exactly is going on, but you have been coming here for almost three years now and we've talked a lot. You're a good kid and a smart kid but you're a complete dunce if you think that you're protecting him by keeping him outside of your shell. I could see the way he was looking at you. You mean the world to him; almost as if," she stopped herself before she finished her sentence. A wide smile crossed her face and she decided to instead end with "you're a very special person to him."

Abe could not help but to stare blankly at the ramen shop owner as she walked into the back room. Abe was always the analytical one who was always able to see patterns and come up with strategies; yet here he is completely unable to comprehend and understand something so close to him. Abe wanted to figure out what he was missing that apparently was so obvious to the kind old lady who had never even seen the two of them interact before. There was the possibility that she could be wrong, Abe kept that in mind, but there was something deep down in Abe's mind that made him know she was correct; at the very least simply because she had always been right before.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Abe's mind was racing. His plan for the night was shot full of holes. The black haired catcher tried to gage the reaction of the pitcher and come up with a solution to the problem put before him but Mihashi acted differently than he had thought. Abe expected Mihashi to freak out and try or say a whole bunch of things, yet Abe did not see what Mihashi said coming. The words rung through Abe's consciousness. 'You will always be my friend.'

Always be my friend. What did Mihashi mean by that? What was the scatterbrain pitcher thinking? Was he planning something of his own?

Abe could feel his heart beating faster in his chest. Mihashi had to be planning something and Abe had to figure out what it was. Abe was reasonably sure that he could handle himself if Mihashi suddenly didn't want to associate with Abe. Loneliness was not a foreign feeling for the catcher; he was use to it in junior high but that was a different story. Now Abe was important to someone and had the well being of another person to keep in mind.

Abe thanked the old woman and left her a hefty tip. Abe made a point to leave at least the amount of the bill as a tip. Today's meal was double what it normally was but Abe still didn't mind.

The dark haired boy knew his friend was long since gone but he was not concerned with that at the moment. Abe did not want to go home yet and the sky was just now starting to turn colors. He had hoped to spend some time with Mihashi and talk over a few things, but now that the smaller boy was gone Abe was left to roam the city as he blew off some steam to clear his mind. There was a lot of new information that Abe had to analyze before he exposed his plan tomorrow morning.

He let his feet take him wherever they wanted. Abe had wandered around the city enough to know it pretty well. Despite the fact that Abe's parents just moved to the current side of town only this past year, he had often traveled around Nishiura when he was in junior high to visit his aunt and uncle. When he decided to attend Nishiura his parents decided to make a deal with his relatives and the two families switched houses due to the fact that now both Abe was closer to school and his father was closer to his job and his uncle, moving into Abe's old house, was now closer to his job.

The practice field at Nishiura was now in front of Abe. He walked through the dugouts and onto the infield. The smells of baseball and the time he spent on the field; the dust, the grass, the sweat, and everything else that Abe remembered about baseball swirled around in his nostrils. Abe remembered his games in junior high and how difficult it was to play catcher. Abe had felt he was the force behind the team, but with that realization came the fact that while he was the main factor in their wins he was also the main factor in their losses. The next memories were of the seniors. His team's pitcher was a wild animal; eyes of fury stared back at Abe whenever he got behind the plate. The catcher would never admit it but many times he was scared and did not want to catch for the beast. But yet he did.

Abe rubbed his left forearm without realizing he was doing it. He suffered through so much pain during his junior high years, both physical and mental. He remembered the time his old pitcher hit him with a pitch that was so hard it actually fractured his forearm; and also remembered how he felt after his team lost a game because he let so many balls go by. The small body he had, the pitiful skills he possessed, and his inability to control or even help his pitcher when it was obvious that he was suffering.

The memories from Nishiura, the memories of this past season now enveloped him. Abe's legs were getting weak so he sat on the pitcher's mound. Everything from the training camp to all of the games the team played together all filled Abe's head. The endless days of practicing from 5 am every morning to well after the sun had set at night. Abe felt a pang of guilt when he thought about not coming back to field. He could not honestly say that this season was terrible; on the contrary he enjoyed himself more than he ever had, that is until yesterday when everything crumbled around him. It was the worse possible ending to a season that Abe thought was pretty fun. He enjoyed the cohesiveness of the team and his teammates in general.

This place, this stadium, this team; Abe wanted to be a part of it. He was content here, he liked the atmosphere and he liked the team. Unfortunately he also knew that he did not have what it took to be a cornerstone of the team. The pain in Mihashi's eyes left a scar on Abe's heart larger than any other. This sin was something that the dark haired catcher had to deal with and the only way he could think of was to sever himself from Mihashi so that this mistake never happens again. Abe was content with helping the pitcher from the background but didn't know how well that would go over with said pitcher. 'Damn,' Abe thought to himself, 'tonight only confused me more.'

The catcher moved a few feet to his right and lay down in the grass folding his arms under his head as a pillow. Things had been so confusing for him and now he just wanted to let everything run together. The hell with thinking specifically and individually about everything and the hell with analyzing each detail separately; instead Abe lay on the ground and let the events of the past few days swirl around together in his head. Abe could feel the grief and responsibility that had filled him during the game mixing with the regret and despair of the post game shower and all of that combining with the confusion and hope of tonight's dinner with the pitcher.

Abe shivered. When the catcher opened his eyes he noticed that the sky was no longer the beautiful scenery it was when he closed his eyes moments before. Instead of the vibrant colors playing out across the sky said sky was now a deep navy blue lit only by the dull lights from the city and the twinkling stars. He looked at his watch and cursed under his breath. When the catcher reached the field it was almost six o'clock, now it was past seven thirty. 'So much for only closing my eyes for a second,' he thought to himself.

Abe's mom was standing in the kitchen when he got home. He wanted to avoid any awkward conversations about what happened to and with Mihashi regarding the game and the events surrounding it.

"Hello mom, I've got some homework to do so I'm going to be upstairs," the dark haired boy said to his mom in as cheery of a voice as he could muster. "Tomorrow we don't have practice instead only a meeting so I can sleep in for another two hours. It'll be much better getting up at six instead of four."

The elder Abe looked at her son and after a moment's pause smiled at him. "Alright Takaya take care and remember to set your alarm. Your father is going to go to work early tomorrow and I have an early appointment so I'm going to need you to make sure to get Shun up with you and make sure he gets off to school."

"Alright mom," Abe said as he smiled and nodded at his mother. He would handle his brother Shun tomorrow, what he needed to focus on right now was slinking his way up to his room without being burdened with any questions.

At six that next morning Abe's alarm went off waking the sleeping teen. He had a knack for getting up in the morning; whether or not he was tired whenever he heard the alarm the boy was instantly up and after a brief shower and a check to see if Shun was awake the dark haired teen made his way to the school.

It was still a ways before the start of school but already in the morning the grounds were buzzing with activity. Different sports clubs were practicing around the grounds of the school. Since the baseball team was not using the field today the track club decided to make use of the large open space and were running around the inside of the fence. The meeting was in an empty classroom on the first year's wing. Everyone including Shiga-sensei was going to be there and at the pace Abe was walking he would be quite a bit early; which was necessary if he was going to be able to articulate what he wanted to say smoothly.

Abe couldn't help but feel nervous about his decision. He couldn't get out what he wanted to say when it was just himself and Mihashi and now that he had to address the entire team things were going to be rough. 'If I know Momoe at all then she would probably kill me at the slightest mention of my resignation from the team.' Abe chuckled briefly to himself. 'Then again she'd have to get in line. I'm sure the rest of the team would probably want to kill me. I know I kinda want to for what I did to Mihashi and the rest of them.'

Abe was right in thinking that he would be the first one in the room. The classroom was completely deserted and quiet giving the tall catcher the time he needed to think of a plan. Without thinking he took his normal seat during team meetings which was on the far wall near the window so that he could space out when unimportant things were being discussed. After a moment's thought the catcher decided it would be better to take a seat near the door, just in case he did have to make a speedy getaway. Abe wasn't stupid; he saw what Momoe had done to the orange during the first day of practice and Abe could easily picture his head between her insanely strong hands.

There was still a half hour before the team was supposed to meet. Having nothing else to do Abe sat back in his chair and tried to come up with possible questions that the team would ask when he told them his news and what their answers would be. Most of the normal questions like "why are you leaving?" and "what are you talking about?" he could answer with sufficient accuracy pending to what he wanted to convey. It was the stupid questions from the likes of Tajima that Abe was worried about. The kid was so sporadic that any logical person such as himself could not possibly come up with questions the third baseman might ask. Lastly there was Mihashi, but he already knew a lot of what was coming and hopefully stay quiet.

"You look terrible what's wrong man?" The voice woke Abe from his trance. Izumi had just walked in and noticed Abe.

"Just doing a bit of thinking," the catcher responded as he turned to watch his teammate walk from the door on his right to an open seat on Abe's left.

Izumi furrowed his brows at Abe. "Huh," he said, "must be a lot of thinking because from this perspective it almost looked like you were in pain."

Abe mustered what he could from his mental happy-bag and shot the best smile he could at Izumi; a smile so meek and terrible it almost hurt Abe.

"Come on man, who are you trying to fool?" Izumi glared at him. "What's wrong?" The speed demon shot Abe a very wide eyed and intense stare. He noted how, despite the front Abe was putting forth, he was definitely in some pain trying to decide something. "Don't tell me this is about the game, is it?" Izumi concluded.

'Damn,' Abe thought, 'how the hell, really how the hell could the speed demon conclude that?' Abe couldn't think of anything convincing to say. Something deep down told Abe that Izumi had a very good read on him and if he tried to lie then Izumi would be able to tell instantly. "Um, well, yeah," Abe finally muttered.

Izumi looked at his catcher expectantly. He knew he had created an awkward silence and if he waited long enough then Abe would slowly come forth and reveal more. He put on a pleasant smile and looked at the taller boy, simply staring never wavering.

Abe couldn't take it. He really did not want to tell Izumi what was on his mind but the silence was getting to him in the worst way. The catcher tried to hold out as much as he could but in the end decided to crack under the pressure. "Izumi, I can't take it."

Izumi finally changed the expression on his face and leaned forward. At the very least Izumi had to show some attempt at active listening.

"Please, don't tell the others," Abe started, "but that game on Saturday almost killed me, Tajima can attest to that. Mihashi was just so lifeless throughout the entire game but still I could not do anything for him." Abe took a deep breath to calm himself and fight back the tears. Every time Abe blinked he saw Mihashi's lifeless face staring back at him from on the mound. "Then, when Mihashi collapsed, the feel of him sent me over the edge. He was much lighter than he should be and wouldn't stop shaking. I couldn't take it."

Izumi was surprised to hear this. Abe never mentioned a word of Mihashi's strange activities to him during the game and to be honest when Izumi remembered back to that day he could not think of anything that Mihashi was doing that would hint at anything wrong.

Abe, who had hung his head, now looked at his teammate. "When I got back to the locker room I couldn't help myself and I broke." Abe took another deep breath. He could feel the tears starting to rim his eyes. "Once Tajima and I got changed we went to visit Mihashi in the hospital instead of going to the meeting. When we got there we ran into his mom and she told us that it was '_just an ulcer_,'" Abe stressed these last few words. According to him there was no such thing as '_just an ulcer_' when someone is in the state Mihashi was in. "She told us that he first got it in junior high and it got worse as he progressed through the seasons occasionally having to go to the hospital." Abe looked at Izumi hoping he would draw the conclusion so that Abe would not have to say it out loud.

Izumi looked back at the dark haired catcher. There was something that Abe was trying to get at, something he wanted Izumi to realize without Abe having to say it. Unfortunately Izumi's ability to read was more of a subliminal thing.

Izumi was not getting what Abe was trying to say. "I–" Abe started, "he, um, well," Abe didn't know how he wanted to put it. "It means that I, the catcher, the one who is supposed to protect and support his pitcher, the one who is supposed to befriend the pitcher and create trust, completely failed in my job to provide Mihashi, my pitcher, my friend, with anything but stress and despair." Abe could not phrase what he wanted to say and hoped this was enough for Izumi to get what Abe was trying to say.

Izumi got it. "What are you saying; that you are the reason why Mihashi had to go to the hospital?"

"Yeah," Abe said as he hung his head.

Izumi was getting flustered. "That's absurd. We're all a team and we are all responsible for what happens to each other."

"You don't get it," Abe whispered in a voice so quiet and meek that Abe could hardly recognize it as his own. "The catcher is supposed to form a battery with the pitcher, create trust and friendship, and create an environment that promotes the best pitching atmosphere. I did the opposite and hurt my pitcher, my best friend." Abe wiped away the tears that were, despite his best efforts, growing larger at the corners of his eyes.

Izumi felt for his teammate. Logically, he could see where Abe was coming from even if he did not agree with the premise of the argument.

"I hurt Mihashi and the team." He looked up and locked eyes with Izumi. "That is why I shouldn't be a part of the team anymore. Nishiura is bound to get some recruits next year and even if any of them aren't catchers Tajima can play the position no problem, the guy is a baseball prodigy." Abe felt a little better after finally voicing his feelings to someone and decided to go a step farther. "If all I can do is hurt my pitcher and best friend then I do not deserve a spot on the team."

Izumi had noticed what first was a few other teammates filing into the room and as Abe continued to talk with his head down the rest of the team as well as the manager, coach, and adviser had entered and upon seeing Izumi frantically shaking his head so that they would see him and Abe would not the rest of the team stayed perfectly quiet. That is until Abe finished his spiel.

The center fielder was surprised to hear silence after Abe's little rant in front of everyone. He expected someone like Shiga-sensei, Tajima, Momoe, or at least someone to say something in protest but by the look of shock on pretty much everyone's face the angry protest to Abe's resignation seemed like an unlikely outcry.

Instead Hanai walked from the back of the crowd and, upon reaching Abe who still had his back turned and did not know the group was there, swung his fist and punched Abe knocking him off of his chair and onto the ground. "What the _HELL_ are you talking about Abe!?!" Hanai was livid.

Abe laid on the ground. The world was spinning and his head hurt worse than anything he could imagine. He thought he heard Hanai yelling at him but was not sure if it was his teammate who hit him or a bus; either way he probably had a concussion. Slowly the officially former catcher pulled himself up onto his knees and then started to stand. He turned to see almost every one of his teammates, Shinooka, Momoe, and Shiga-sensei looking at him still shocked.

"Where do you get off telling yourself that this is all your fault?" Hanai said in a forcibly controlled voice. "I'm the captain and if anyone is going to be blamed for anything that happens between my teammates it's me."

Abe stared into the fire that was spewing out of Hanai's eyes. He did not want a conflict with anyone on the baseball team but right now Abe was feeling particularly self-destructive. Abe got into the taller boy's face and stared directly at him. "You have no idea what I felt, what I did, how much I hurt him. Out of my way; I'm done here." Abe was awkwardly slightly happy at what he said. It was true that Hanai would never know how he felt and the last bit was just icing.

Hanai was shocked to hear this come from the catcher; but what shocked him even more was that Abe who, despite being the second biggest guy on the team was still noticeably smaller than the captain, tried to knock Hanai out of the way with his shoulder as he passed. The moment Abe hit Hanai with his shoulder the right fielder lost it and slammed the dark haired teen into the desk next to him.

Hanai grabbed the front of Abe's shirt with both hands and drew him in close, their noses almost touching. "I don't care what you think," Hanai seethed, "but only a real ass pulls this kind of shit without even talking to us about it." The largest teen released his grip on the now mangled shirt. "If you have a problem with something you talk it over with your friends. I thought we were friends, hell I hoped we were friends. But I guess you don't even care about us that much."

Abe was relieved yet slightly annoyed when Hanai released him and stormed off. Abe wanted Hanai to keep punching him, to pound Abe into oblivion because everyone in the room secretly knew that Abe deserved it.

The dark haired teen watched as the captain who had moments ago loomed above him stormed out of the room. The crowd of former teammates split to let the larger captain through, all of them still in shock over not only what they had heard from Abe but also from what Hanai both said and did to Abe.

Abe continued to lie on the desk staring up at the ceiling while the shock of everything wore off. The initial surge of adrenalin and masochism started to wear off and soon Abe realized how much he hated himself. He had spent the latter half of this horrible weekend trying to figure out everything and came to the conclusion that he was alone just like when he was in junior high and the seniors. Now Mihashi and Hanai were calling Abe their friend and he was unsure of how to react. One thing was certain in Abe's mind: he could definitely sympathize with Hanai's position. Abe knew that if someone else tried to pull this same sort of stunt Abe would be pissed and probably act the same if not worse than Hanai.

'Damn I truly am a dumbass,' he thought to himself.

Abe sat up. He was in Shiga-sensei's in the way of the baseball team's meeting and needed to move so they could continue. He was a bit shaky getting to his feet but once stable the dark haired boy made his way through the crowd and out the door as quick as he could; Abe did not want to see the other's faces.

There was still almost an hour before school started. Despite the grounds being occupied by the various student clubs the school itself was almost desolate. Abe needed to get away for a while. The prospects of skipping school for today crossed his mind and seemed very attractive but in the end the boy decided against it and instead slid into the men's bathroom near the main entrance. The bathroom was empty allowing Abe to let go of his emotions. The boy started shaking as he walked to an empty stall to sit down.

The dark haired boy lost track of the minutes as he let the pent up tears he had been holding back slide down his face. He knew Hanai was right, that Abe should have at least mentioned it to the team. Then again he was going to address the team as a whole and they just happened to over hear him.

Either way Abe hated himself. The spot on his head where Hanai had punched him was starting to goose egg and swell. Abe gingerly felt the area. He had to give credit to Hanai, the boy was much stronger than he looked.

'If only he would have kept hitting me,' Abe thought to himself. 'Lord knows I deserve it. Now how am I supposed to punish myself for this?'

After a brief check of his mobile for the time Abe decided he should clean himself up and look presentable. He may no longer be a part of the baseball team but he still had to look at least semi decent. Upon exiting the bathroom he gave the main hall a brief scan only to see very worried looking Izumi talking to a still pissed off Hanai. 'Damn,' Abe mentally cursed. The two were hanging around the entrance to the first year wing and there was no way Abe could make it to class without getting past them. As much as the black haired boy wanted his former captain to pound him into oblivion Abe wanted to avoid any sort of scene. His earlier idea of skipping school popped back into his mind and seemed to be the more attractive of the two offers; so instead of taking a left out of the bathroom and facing the fury of Hanai the teen decided to exit stage right and slip off the grounds before school officially started.

Abe could not go home because his mother would be there and it would be a very awkward conversation trying to explain why he was not in school. The arcade and other typical fun ideas were out of the question as well both because Abe did not have the money to go out at the moment and because the teen also thought he did not deserve to cut class and have fun after what he did.

Instead the boy spent the day in a park fighting through one hell of an anxiety attack and trying to come up with something to tell his parents. Abe knew his mom would eventually get use to the fact that Abe could not go back to the team; it was his dad that Abe was worried about. The man was the driving factor for Abe's baseball career making a point to involve Abe from when he could barely walk throughout all of his school days and into high school. It took everything Abe had to convince his father to let him go to Nishiura instead of a named school. The teen had to tell his father that he did not care about his career and instead wanted to enjoy baseball and the only way he could do that is if he could get along with his team and make friends.

'Friends,' Abe thought to himself. Before this year he was unsure if he was even able to keep the friends he made. He was not the most social guy and he soon found out that friends were hard to come by as he got older. Thinking back on the season Abe realized that he really did think of everyone on the team as his friend. They hung out together, for the most part, at lunch and breaks; they were always together before and after school; they had spent so much time bonding and getting close to each other. They were all friends, so how could they _not_ know how Abe felt about Mihashi. Mihashi was not just his friend but everyone on the teams'.

The small mobile had in his pocket had rung a few times throughout the day, mostly mails but a few calls around lunchtime. The small screen on the front of the flip phone told Abe that school had just gotten out. Out of curiosity the teen decided to check what he missed. The missed calls were from Tajima, Izumi, and Sakaeguchi while the mails were from Tajima, Mizutani, Oki, Tajima, Tajima, and Suyama. Abe felt a little disappointed when he did not see anything from Mihashi. 'So much for always being my friend. O well it's better if he disassociates with me.'

Curiosity got the better of Abe again and he decided to read the mails. Tajima's first was a 'WTF' but the other mails were different; the subject: Mihashi. According to what Abe could determine, Mihashi had, as Abe expected, freaked out and ran. He was in class when school started but ended up collapsing just before lunch and was sent home.

Before Abe could read all of the mails his mobile rang. Tajima was on the other end. The dark haired teen tentatively answered, unsure of what the sporadic teen would say.

"Abe where the hell are you?" Came a furious voice.

"I'm out. Tajima what's going on?"

"We've been trying to get a hold of you all day. Listen, Mihashi collapsed in school today and his mom came and picked him up. Right now he's at home and the group of us are going to visit him. He's been acting very strange all day." Tajima said in what had to be one breath.

"Tajima slow down I can barely understand you. What do you mean he's been acting strange?" Abe was worried now.

"He was quiet all day and did not touch his lunch between classes." Tajima said in a slower voice. "We're going over to his house after school. Listen, I know you probably don't want to go with us but I'm asking you as a friend."

With that the third baseman hung up the phone. Abe should have known that something like this would happen to Mihashi; and this was after the pitcher knew what was coming.

Abe was in the opposite direction of Mihashi's House from the school, which meant that his former teammates would get there before Abe would.

Abe was right. When he reached Mihashi's house let himself in. From his past encounters Abe knew that Mihashi's parents were both at work and Mihashi himself was probably upstairs in his room. Abe knocked once, let himself in and kicked off his shoes next to the nine other pairs of his former teammates. The dark haired boy had been inside of the Mihashi household a few times before and weaved his way through the house to the stairs up to Mihashi's room. Abe sprinted up the stairs as fast as he could but stopped when he reached Mihashi's room. The door was open and voices were coming out. Abe leaned against the door frame and listened to Mihashi laying on his bed talking to the others in a weak voice.

"Without A-Abe-kun I'm just a-a lousy pitcher with a sl-slow fastball." The dirty blond said.

Suyama looked at his pitcher. "Mihashi what are you talking about? There isn't another high school or hell even university pitcher who can divide his strike zone into nine partitions. It's amazing. Mihashi, you're amazing."

"I'm j-just a bad pitcher. A-Abe-kun is the a-amazing one and w-without him I-I'm just a guy who sh-shouldn't be on th-the mound." Mihashi turned to look at all of his teammates, which was difficult with tears sliding down his cheeks. "I-I'm s-s-sorry guys." Mihashi choked out. "But without A-Abe-kun I c-can't pitch, a-a-and if I-I can't pitch th-then I should qu-qui…" Mihashi was having trouble saying it but he knew he had to. He had caused a rift to form between his team and in order for Nishiura to do well Mihashi had to end it. "I should quit too; I've turned Nishiura into Mihoshi."

"Like _HELL_," roared Abe from the doorway. He made it just in time to hear Mihashi tell the team he's quitting. "You're not quitting, Mihashi. Baseball means the world to you."

Everyone in the room looked at their former teammate. Abe was panting and sweating slightly from running up the stairs. "Abe," whispered Tajima. Izumi looked at the third baseman and then shook the thoughts from his head. There was no way. Was there?

Abe stormed into the room on a direct path to Mihashi's bed. The smaller boy pulled the covers over him in a pathetic attempt to hide from the angry figure on the warpath. The meek boy did a terrible job. The larger black haired boy yanked the covers down exposing the cowering boy under them. Mihashi looked up at the angry figure. "Ah, um, Abe-kun," the smaller boy stuttered.

"Mihashi," Abe growled.

Sakaeguchi saw what was about to happen and took it upon himself to stop it; he was not going to like what he was about to do and was pretty sure he would get hit because of it but it had to be done. "Abe, you have no right to say anything. You abandoned us," Sakageuchi swallowed his fear and moved between Abe and Mihashi. "You abandoned all of us."

Sakaeguchi turned his back on Abe; something that everyone else in the room saw as a dangerous move. Instead of focusing on Abe he moved his attention to Mihashi. "Listen Mihashi," he said, "I know you're feeling bad but still think about us, your friends."

Mihashi looked up at the second baseman. His eyes sparkled with a mixture of tears and awe. "B-b-but Sakaeguchi-kun I-I am thinking about the-the-the team. I've c-c-caused A-Abe-kun to qu-quit the team and-and-and you guys g-got into a f-fight." Mihashi snapped his head to try to look at his former catcher. "Abe-kun, I'm sorry!" Mihashi finally yelled after not being able to see past Sakaeguchi.

Abe had no idea that Mihashi felt this way. He was blaming himself for Abe's own strife. "Mihashi," Abe commanded after moving around Sakaeguchi who was crouched at the head of Mihashi's bed on eye level with the pitcher. "Mihashi, I've acted like an ass the entire season. It's not your fault that I've quit the team. I quit the team because all I did was hurt you throughout the entire season and stress you out. I caused you to relive your junior high years and doubt yourself. I failed as a catcher and as a friend and I should not be allowed on the team. If I were a better person then you would not have the ulcer and we all would still be playing baseball, together."

This was news to Mihashi. None of it made sense. The pitcher looked over at his friend who was kneeling down beside Sakaeguchi next to Mihashi's bed. "B-b-but Abe-kun, the reason wh-why I fainted is-is-is because I f-forgot to take my me-medicine." The blond stated matter-of-factly.

Abe snapped his head up. He must have misheard; Mihashi must be trying to joke with the dark haired teen. "What did you say Mihashi?" He asked.

"I-I-I, um," the tears in Mihashi's eyes were gone and the pitcher now wore a smile that started to piss Abe off. "I-I had forgotten t-to take m-my meds a f-few days be-before."

"WHAT!" Abe roared.

Everyone in the room stared at the pitcher. Nobody could believe that everything happened simply because Mihashi forgot to take his pills for a while. Abe had quite the team, gotten in to a fight with Hanai, and now Mihashi had quite the team. As of a few minutes ago there _was_ no Nishiura baseball club because once Mihashi quit they did not have enough members to form a club. Nishihiro was the first to come to his senses and had an idea.

"So if I understand this right," the outfielder said, "Mihashi, you quit the team because essentially Abe quit; and Abe you quit the team because you hurt Mihashi very badly by giving him an ulcer; and Mihashi had an ulcer because he forgot to take his medicine."

The other boys looked at the genius when he started to talk but once he finished they were all nodding their head.

"So," continued Nishihiro, "if Abe did not cause Mihashi's ulcer, then he did not hurt Mihashi, is not a bad person, and owes all of us an apology and then some. Likewise, since Abe is making up with the team then that makes Mihashi's argument about driving the team apart null and void causing him to owe the team an apology and then some. Am I correct in this?"

Hanai, being not only the captain but the next smartest person on the team, saw where Nishihiro was going with his proposition and decided to agree. He would have a talk with Abe about everything later on in private. Hanai did not want to simply dismiss Mihashi's quitting the team but also did not want to give the feeble pitcher something to hate the right fielder for. "First off," Hanai called out over the muttering group in front of him. "First off, we need to have a team vote on whether or not to reinstate the members. First up is Mihashi." Hanai looked over to the small pitcher and gestured with his hand. "All in favor of letting Mihashi back on the team as the team's Ace raise your hand." Every single hand went into the air. Tajima had both of his arms raised as far up as he could reach.

Hanai looked around thoroughly satisfied. 'If this doesn't show Mihashi that we want him here than nothing will,' he thought.

"Alright. Secondly, all in favor of reinstating Abe, with sanctions to be determined by the captain, raise your hand." Again immediately every hand was raised in the air with the exception of both Tajima and Mihashi who had both of theirs stretched towards the heavens.

Hanai smiled. "Then it's agreed," he said. "Abe is back on the team as the catcher. And-" the right fielder turned to face the catcher, "as your first official sanction from the captain you must explain what was going through your head. If we are going to work as a team and win it all then we are going to have to put everything out in the open. Nobody leaves this room until we are all satisfied."

Abe laughed at himself. He really did have friends on this team. After Abe had acted like such a big ass this morning he could not believe how things turned out for him; he was back on the team and only had to suffer through whatever it was that Hanai could come up with for Abe.

"Alright fine," Abe said as he stood up. The taller catcher walked over to the other side of the room so that everyone could see him. "Alright, I'm not going to go into detail about what happened to me after the game but I can tell you that I'm twenty times better than if Tajima had not been there to help me through it." Abe looked over at the third baseman who was a deep red, which Abe felt a little odd. "Anyway, the main reason why I wanted to quit the team was because as I told you all I felt like a terrible person who hurt the greatest asset to this team."

Abe spent the next fifteen minutes detailing what he thought about the night after the game and the following day, about his life in junior high and the seniors, about the panic attacks and anxiety attacks that plagued him throughout junior high, and his inability to make friends. The reinstated catcher left out a few minor details but still did a good job convincing his friends. 'My friends,' he thought. 'They are my friends, my precious friends.'

The boys decided to celebrate the rejoining of the battery with a little night on the town. Since none of them had to get up early for practice the rest of the week they were free to stay out as long as their parents would allow. The ten teammates decided to meet up at the CD store in an hour after each went their separate way to change out of their school uniform and into more comfortable clothes.

Abe was one of the last to leave the Mihashi residence followed closely by Tajima and Hanai. The trio walked a little ways making idle chatter until a long silence enveloped them. Hanai thought it was as good a time as any. "Hey Tajima, can you run on ahead? I need to talk to Abe alone for a while."

Both Abe and Tajima looked at the right fielder in surprise. "Um…sure," Tajima replied. After bidding the two taller boys good bye the third baseman went his own way.

Abe turned to Hanai. "So," he said, "what is it you want to talk about?"

Hanai motioned for Abe to join him on a nearby bench. "First off, I want to say that I'm glad you're back on the team. I think you're a great guy and an even better friend. Besides, it would be very tough trying to motivate everyone by myself during the winter practices."

Abe nodded in agreement.

"With that being said I want you to know that I don't plan on putting any sanctions on Mihashi what so ever. You on the other hand," the taller of the two first years looked into the smaller's eyes. "Because of the way you acted and your reasoning for quitting the team I cannot let you join without some penalties. Is that understood?"

The catcher knew the right fielder was right. Abe had hoped he would not have any major penalties but deep down knew they were coming and that he flat out deserved them and any more that Hanai wanted to give. "Yeah I understand," Abe responded.

"The first thing is for a month you are to help Shinooka-chan out in any way she needs. We will still be having outdoor practices until the weather turns bad so you will be in charge of the equipment like the pitching machine, the balls, and so on. I know we usually do a turn based system for that but from now until I say it is your responsibility."

That seemed more than fair to Abe.

"Also, because of the way you acted I can no longer have you as one of my assistant captains. I will be choosing a replacement later on. No hard feelings."

The catcher also agreed to this. "None what so ever. Is there anything else?" Abe asked.

Hanai looked at Abe. To be honest he could not think of anything at the moment. "I'll let you know; and don't expect me to go light on you either." Hanai said with a smile.

Abe returned the larger boy's smile. "Hanai, I wanted to personally apologize to you about this morning. I acted like a huge complete jackass and I should not have taken any of my frustration out on you."

"Taken out your frustration on me?" Hanai asked surprised. "From what I remember I was the one who was beating you up." Hanai looked at the smaller boy and added, "And I'm not going to take back my actions this morning. Sometimes words will not get across what you want them to and that's when the fists come in handy."

"To be completely honest with you," Abe added, "I kinda hoped that instead of storming away you would just keep beating me. Everyone knows I deserved it. Still do."

Hanai put his arm around Abe's shoulders. "Ha ha at the time I wanted to keep going but I knew I shouldn't. I was just so pissed off…" the larger boy trailed off.

"Although I think it's a good thing you didn't," Abe picked up the slack in the conversation. The mood between them was cheery and there was no question that Abe still owed the captain and knew it; so what was the hurt in praising the more mature teen with the truth? "That first punch, man I think it gave me a mild concussion. If you were to keep going Shiga-sensei might be scraping me off of his floor right now."

The two boys laughed and joked about ferocity of Hanai's punches, the protein powder's effectiveness, and Hanai's selection for new vice-captain for a few minutes before they parted. It was obvious to Abe; Hanai was a good captain.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

When Abe arrived at the CD shop he was one of the first. His dad wasn't home yet and Abe said a quick hi-and-bye to his mom as the catcher ran upstairs to his room to change and grab his wallet. Minutes after entering the house he was back on his way to the shop.

Tajima was the only person waiting at the store when Abe arrived. The third baseman was dressed surprisingly nice for an occasion like this. It was not that Abe dressed down at all, he simply put on what he normally wore when not in school or at a special occasion. Tajima however was noticeably dressed up wearing an uncharacteristic polo t-shirt and khaki shorts. Granted Abe was not too sure what the third baseman normally wore when he was not in school or practice because the only time Abe ever saw anyone from his team was either during a baseball-related activity or at school or some function thereof where they had to dress appropriately. Tajima's dress simply surprised the catcher.

"Yo," Abe greeted the smaller boy who was staring off into space.

"Hey!" Tajima rather enthusiastically greeted his friend. "You're rather early."

"Look who's talking," Abe retorted. He was glad he could BS with someone. The two continued joking around while waiting for the others. They still had fifteen minutes before the rest of the team was supposed to arrive. "So," Abe continued, "why are you dressed up so pretty?"

"Dressed up pretty?" Tajima asked. Abe had to be joking; there was no way he thought Tajima was…pretty? "Am I not allowed to dress nicely every once in a while?"

That confirmed Abe's suspicion that the normally hyperactive teenager normally was not so preppy. "So, is there someone you are trying to impress?" The catcher asked flatly, hiding his hope that the question would be answered in the guise of a joke.

"Maaaaybe," Tajima replied trying to hide his embarrassment within a joke himself.

Abe saw right through it. A sly smile crossed his face. "So who ya dressed up for huh?"

Tajima's face was the perfect definition of red. "Do I have to be trying to impress someone if I want to look nice? I mean I don't care if it's only going to be the guys and Shinooka, I'm still allowed to look nice."

So that was it. "I didn't know Shinooka was coming," the catcher responded trying to seem nonchalant so that the third baseman would tip more of his hand.

"Yeah," Tajima said, "when I left you and Hanai alone and caught up to the guys they told me they had called her; I mean she is part of the team too."

No help what so ever to Abe. 'Time to fish a little more,' he thought. "So, who do you think Shinooka likes?"

Before Abe had a chance to thoroughly gage Tajima's reaction he heard a voice. "I heard my name did you guys want something?"

"Oh, hey Shinooka-chan, no Tajima just told me that you were coming; I was unaware." Abe said.

The team's manager looked at the reinstated catcher and smiled. "Of course I'd come. I was worried about both you and Mihashi-kun after what happened today; you especially Abe-kun. I'm glad to see that things worked out for everyone. Abe-kun you've gotta tell me what happened."

Abe grinned at her and recapped what had happened at Mihashi's house, causing Shinooka to giggle at times and blush at others. From What Abe could tell looking back on it the whole incident did seem like it would make a pretty riveting story. "But we're all good now," he concluded.

"You left out the part about the ogre and dragon," a voice said from behind Abe. Sakaeguchi and most of the rest of the team were gathered and waiting.

"Yeah," laughed Nishihiro, "And the princess kissing the frog."

"What?" Asked Abe. He could handle the rest of their joking, but what was Nishihiro talking about? The rest of the group seemed to agree with Abe's line of thought because the amount of laughing died down considerably. "Nishihiro, man, what are you talking about?"

"I, um, well," he muttered, "never mind, you guys never read a western fairytale?"

"No," the rest of the team said in unison.

Nishihiro felt like a smartass.

Hanai was the last to arrive at the CD store. "Alright," he gathered everyone's attention, "where are we eating?"

Almost everyone in the group started shouting out what seemed to be random food. Abe stood next to Tajima who instead of shouting for his favorite was yelling "hotdogs, pizza, hamburgers," and a variety of other foods.

Hanai looked visibly upset. "Fine!" He yelled. The others quieted except for Tajima who was still shouting foods. Hanai gave the smallest boy a death stare and soon after the third baseman shut up. "Fine," the captain said in a much gentler voice, "Shinooka, why don't you decide for us?"

All heads turned to the female manager. Abe laughed to himself as she turned a few shades of red from all of the male attention. "Um…I don't know…" Shinooka trailed off trying to stall for time.

Tajima was still yelling out suggestions but by this point he had run out of food that would likely be found at a restaurant and had switched to naming off random food. Abe would not have minded if the third baseman was not right next to him yelling practically in Abe's ear. Upon a particularly loud "stuffed eggplant!" request the catcher put the third baseman into a head lock.

"I don't think your name's Shinooka-chan," the larger boy growled jokingly. "Let her decide herself."

When the group turned their attention back to the manager from the little scene Abe had caused the manager resumed her strawberry impersonation. "Um…how about…." She trailed off again. Finally after a long pause threw out "ramen?"

Hanai looked at his teammates. He was glad he was taller than all of them; it made his job as captain easier because he could shepherd the group easier if they could all see him and he could see all of them. "Thank you, Shinooka-chan," the captain said. "Ramen it is."

"No you don't have to…because I said it…" the surprisingly shy manager trailed off.

"Nope. That's what you've chosen so that's where we're going." Hanai retorted. He turned his attention to the group at large and asked, "So, does anyone know of a good ramen shop close by? There's always Special Kei's but that's a ways downtown; I really don't want to have to go there unless we have to."

Shinooka was about to speak up but Hanai, who had read her expression, cut her off. "Sorry Shinooka, we're eating ramen; it's decided."

Mihashi was fidgeting back and forth again. Abe remembered this awkward reaction of Mihashi's whenever he had something he wanted to say but did not know if he should or not. "Um…there's always…Furikawa…." The blond boy trailed off as he bowed his head. Suddenly in a classic Mihashi-esc move the blond shot his head up, his eyes large and sparkling he continued "it's right down the street!"

Abe snorted back his laughter. It completely figured that Mihashi would suggest they go there; that was where Abe had taken Mihashi only the night before. Oki and Tajima looked wearily at their catcher. Abe saw this gave the pair a reassuring smile. "No, it's nothing," he said and continued to laugh silently.

Hanai, who had apparently never heard of the ramen shop, looked confused. So did most of the team. "Alright Mihashi, since you suggested it you lead the way."

"Um, I, um…" the pitcher stuttered before finally spitting out "…Abe-kun…"

Sakaeguchi, the only member of the team other than the pitcher who was fluent in Mihashi, translated. "I think he wants Abe to lead the way instead."

Mihashi shook his head with what looked like borderline violent force.

"I'm surprised none of you know where this place is," the second tallest boy said as he walked to the front of the pack. Upon reaching the lead spot he suddenly turned on his heels and in the stupidest voice he could imagine said "it's magical" as he mimed a circle with his hands.

The pack broke out laughing at the completely non-Abe action.

Furikawa's was but a few minute's walk down the street. About half way to the restaurant Tajima, who must eat his bodyweight in food every day yet never gain any weight, started complaining. "How much further," he groaned. "I'm hungry. Are we there yet?"

Hanai, who had been talking to Abe about an assignment they both had due at school in a few days, suddenly stopped the conversation. "Quiet down back there," he commanded.

"But I'm hungry," Tajima whined.

"Don't make me turn this thing around," Hanai yelled back. The group laughed.

'Damn,' Abe thought, 'it's great to have friends.'

Abe was the first one into Furikawa's. The elder woman behind the counter smiled at her favorite customer. "Back again are we?" She said. "Did you and your friend work everything out?"

Abe grinned at the woman. "Yeah, everything's fine now, thank you," he said. "And actually, I hope you can help me out. I have a ten man baseball team plus a manager outside and we just _dying_ for some world class ramen. Can you help?"

It was the woman's turn to grin. "Send them in; I'll see what I can do."

The two shared one last grin before Abe left to usher everyone inside the restaurant. "Tell the nice lady what you want and take a seat," the black haired teen commanded. "And be sure to say your please and thank you's."

"Yes!" The group answered in unison, and then they all started laughing. This was the best way for the team to bond.

The catcher smiled at sound of slurping. This place was a huge success and it made Abe happy. The woman behind the counter even gave 'her favorite baseball team' a special discount for this evening's meal. Abe had his usual tip ready and he spread the world for the others to leave something nice for the woman.

As nice as everything was Abe felt a few things were a little off. He was no expert on flirting, but just looking around he noticed a few things. First off, he felt it was a little odd that Shinooka was not only sitting next to him but insisted on keeping a conversation with him. The catcher was a little perplexed by this. From what he knew about flirting, which was not much at all, Abe recognized this to be at least some form of infatuation; but what surprised him the most was that she was doing it when he clearly remembered overhearing a conversation Shinooka had with one of her friends during lunch when she specifically said "no no no I'm not interested in any of them." So if she was not interested in any of the Nishiura baseball players then why was she so adamant about keeping Abe's attention?

The next thing Abe noticed was how Tajima, who was sitting next to Shinooka, kept trying to be a part of Abe and Shinooka's conversation. It amused the catcher to see Tajima, the forever five year old, try to vie for attention from the manager and catcher. It reminded Abe of a two adults having a conversation while a child kept trying to get attention.

Slowly Abe started to process the information he had gathered during the day. Tajima was dressed up. Tajima walked in the back of the group with the lone female. Tajima was more talkative than normal. Tajima joked more than normal, if it were possible. Now Tajima was trying to join the manager in a conversation; anything to get her attention. Tajima liked Shinooka. Abe smiled.

Abe also had his eye on Mihashi. The pitcher sat in the other booth with Oki, Izumi, Suyama, and Nishihiro. What struck the catcher as weird was that the pitcher kept looking over at Abe. Abe tried telling himself that it was just normal Mihashi jitters but Abe could not convince himself. There was something different about the pitcher.

Hanai had to time this right. He waited for Shinooka to pause to take another bite of her ramen before he made his move. When he was sure that the female manager had her mouth full of food and therefore was cut off from talking he tapped Sakaeguchi on the shoulder to get his attention and then leant over to the catcher and asked "Abe, Sakaeguchi, I need your help. Abe, I don't want to reopen old wounds but I've been thinking about it all day and I can't think of someone else to take over as vice captain."

Abe got it right away. He was not bitter at all about the decision Hanai had made to remove him from Assistant captain. If it were up to Abe he would not let someone who did that to the team back on like that; maybe after a few weeks or a month if they proved that everything was going to be fine. By the way Hanai was talking Abe assumed that this was still a relative secret and wanted everyone to be surprised by his choice. "Well are you sure you need another vice captain?" Abe asked in a hushed voice quiet enough so that nobody else could hear but yet not blatantly whispering and drawing attention to their conversation.

"I don't know if I _need_ one, but having that option is always good. Besides, I need someone to back me up when there's a situation Sakaeguchi or myself can't deal with."

Abe saw his point. Hanai was a good person and a smart person, but the largest boy had a temper shorter than everyone else on the team. Along with that Sakaeguchi got explosive diarrhea when stressed. "I see your point. Who were you thinking about? What kind of characteristics are you looking for?"

"Well, I need someone who the team can talk to when they can't talk to me or to Momoe; someone who can relate to everyone on the team. But I also want someone who can lead a practice if needed and who works hard and sets a good example for everyone," the catcher listed off the traits as Abe wondered if he had any of those. From what he could think of the only thing that fit him was the leadership part but if he were honest with himself the reason why he pushed himself and everyone else was so that Mihashi could see how great of a pitcher he really was.

"So who do you have in mind?" Abe asked.

Sakaeguchi and Hanai looked the catcher and smirked. "I've got nobody, what about you Sakaeguchi?" The second baseman shrugged his shoulders. "Sure everyone relates well and works hard but I need someone with good senses, both on the field and off the field. Someone who could lead another study session if needed or help another player work on their skills," the current captain concluded.

Abe thought out loud. "If you want someone with great study skills then Nishihiro's your man; but I'm not sure how the others see him in terms of baseball. Nobody thinks of him any different because he's not on the field during games, but that could be a potential problem as well and I wouldn't want that brought up at all." The catcher continued to think. He surveyed the other members of the team. Most of the others fell into either one of the two other categories. There were some like Tajima and Mihashi who were good at baseball and then others like Nishihiro who were gifted in school. What he needed was someone like…

Abe looked at Hanai and smiled. "I've got your man. Think about it, who here is good in school in pretty much every subject; not the best but one of them? And who else on the team is calm and level headed enough to think rationally and not act on impulse?"

"Suyama." Hanai sounded as if it were the best idea anyone had ever had in the history of ideas.

Hearing his name Suyama stopped his conversation with Nishihiro and looked over. "Did you want me, Hanai?"

"Actually," Hanai responded while standing to his feet. He cupped his hands around his mouth and yelled "hey!" in a deep voice. Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked over at the source of the loud noise. Even the owner who was chatting with Izumi looked up. "Alright," Hanai continued. "Now that I've got your attention I have an announcement. Due to some…unfortunate circumstances Nishiura needs a new vice captain."

The crowd murmured amongst themselves and then all heads turned to Abe. The catcher and former vice captain smiled to his teammates and showed that it didn't bother him.

"Anyway," Hanai continued, gathering all attention on himself again. "The vice captain needs to be someone who everyone can talk to, who can help everyone not only on the field but also in schoolwork in case we need another…study session," as he said that last few words the captain shot a frightful stare at Tajima and then at Mihashi. "This person needs to be level headed and calm so that when I lose my cool he can still keep things under control. I feel that the best person that fits those requirements is," Hanai smiled. He liked holding his team in suspense. After a second's pause the right fielder lifted his hand and pointed to the dark haired boy next to Nishihiro. "Shoji Suyama."

Suyama dropped his chopsticks, everyone else cheered.

"Abe suggested you as a replacement and Sakaeguchi and I both agree. You fit the bill perfectly. Do you accept?"

Suyama looked around. Everyone was smiling at him, including Abe. The praise the captain had laid on Suyama made him start to blush. He felt like Shinooka. "I guess I have no choice," the teen said with a smile.

Everyone in the room cheered for the new vice captain. Tajima and Mihashi celebrated by ordering another bowl of ramen.

Hanai got up and motioned for Sakaeguchi and Suyama to follow him. The trio walked over to an empty booth on the other side of the room Abe guessed so they could talk without having to yell.

Abe was free to talk and Shinooka took the opportunity. "So Abe, you really don't mind?" The manager asked with as little tact as Tajima.

Abe smiled to himself. The two would make a good couple. "I'm just glad to be back on the team," the catcher replied. "If Hanai was me I would be a lot stricter about it even if I let the guy back on the team. I'm lucky Hanai is so soft."

Abe's comment about Hanai being soft made Tajima chuckle. "I wish he was soft. I can only imagine what we're gonna have to do now that the season is over." The smaller player gave an exaggerated shudder. "I can imagine Momoe driving us into the ground during drills but if Hanai is even worse with conditioning I don't know what I'd do."

This made Abe wonder, what kind of practices would they have in the winter? Outside practices were out of the question and space was limited indoors. Since the baseball club was brand new they were lowest on the list for practice time in either of the two gyms and even then there was only so much they could do inside; hitting drills were out of the question due to the lack of a batting cage and they needed a lot of room in the gyms to simulate even the infield. "She'll probably send us to the weight room after school," the catcher finally said after thinking it over. "It would make sense; we're all small first years, even Hanai who is the biggest out of all of us still looks like a first year. Plus it has the best shot of being open because most of the other clubs will be in the main gym and the auxiliary gym."

The others nodded in agreement. It was true; everyone on the team was small. Only Hanai or possibly Abe had the power to hit the long ball, but if someone like Tajima were to bulk up then with his prolific skills and hitting ability he could truly be a weapon. Unfortunately the boy was not only skinny but small in general. This meant that for him bulking up would be more difficult than a taller person like Abe or Hanai.

The evening dragged on while nobody noticed. The team was laughing and joking with each other. Abe took part but started to think. It occurred to him that everyone on the team was friends with each other; and not the 'we're on the same team so let's get along' kind of friends that developed on most teams but actual friends who shared the same interests and activities. The catcher looked around at the group. There were the bookworms Nishihiro and Suyama; the personalities Tajima and Izumi; the emotionally competent Sakaeguchi, Mizutani, and Oki; the leader Hanai; and the key to the group, the inspirational one Mihashi. All that was left was Abe. He looked over the group dynamics and could not find his place within the group. He was not the smartest person on the team, one of the more analytical yes but as far as brains went Abe was a little above average. He was not one of the personalities of the group either; Abe tended to keep most of his thoughts to himself and generally was not a very social guy. Even the emotionally competent group did not fit the catcher as he tended to bottle everything up and was even the cause of the recent turmoil. Abe might have identified as one of the leaders but after the stunt he pulled this past weekend that was out of the question. Lastly, the catcher was hardly inspirational like the blond pitcher. It occurred to Abe that he really did not fit into a group category.

But whether he fit or not Abe paid little attention to. The catcher was a fundamental part of the group now and always will be. 'Momoe sure knows how to put together a group,' he thought to himself.

As great as the evening was going everyone had class tomorrow. The only reason they were out instead of or doing homework was because Momoe had given them the week off of practice. The team had been at the ramen shop for the better part of two and a half hours talking and hanging out. But now it was time for the shop to close which meant that everyone had to leave. Once outside the shop the group decided to call it a night. Homework and preparations for school the next day had to be made and after such an intensive baseball tournament the team decided that it would be best to just get some relaxation in.

Abe followed his half of the group towards the CD store. The catcher felt a little guilty that he did not talk to Mihashi much after what had happened before but there was always time for that at school tomorrow. The catcher had to make sure everything was well with his pitcher so the pair could improve the battery.

The tall boy's head was filled with thoughts of his pitcher but that did not stop him from noticing the awkwardness of the atmosphere surrounding the trio of himself, Tajima, and Shinooka as they walked home.

The trio passed a small park when Abe had a moment of Zen. If he remembered correctly Shinooka took the train to and from school because she lived pretty far away. So why she was here walking with the two boys when there was a closer platform back the other way started to confuse the catcher. 'Maybe they want some time alone?' The dark haired boy thought to himself.

"Well I'll see both of you tomorrow at school," Abe said as he bid the two farewell.

Shinooka looked at him. "You're not going to walk with us?" She asked in a hurt tone.

Abe was taken aback. "Oh, well," he stuttered. "I just thought you two would like some time alone, that's all."

"What are you talking about?" Tajima jumped in.

Abe stopped at looked at the two of them. Now he really was confused. "Well I was just thinking about everything that happened today and figured you two would like some private time together," the catcher said flatly.

Tajima and Shinooka looked at each other. Abe was scared when two smiles crept over their faces at the same time. "What ever gave you that idea?" Tajima asked.

"Well just by looking at you," Abe replied. "It was obvious even to me."

"You mean it was that obvious?" Shinooka asked.

"Well yeah," Abe replied again. "Tajima being dressed up, you two talking to yourselves at the back of the group, the way you were acting back at Furikawa's, it all makes sense to me now."

"Wait what?" Tajima retorted, apparently very surprised.

"Sorry," the catcher said, "I didn't know it was supposed to be a secret. But don't worry; I don't think anyone else knows."

Tajima looked at his teammate, surprise carved into the smaller boy's face. "You mean you think that us," he pointed to the female manager and himself, "are a couple?"

"Yeah, now that I think about it it makes perfect sense."

"But we're not going out!" Shinooka protested.

"What?" Abe was really confused now.

"Yeah, what ever gave you that idea?" She replied.

"But, Tajima," the catcher sounded desperate though he did not know why. "Why are you dressed up? Who were you trying to impress?"

"I, um, well," the third baseman who normally never shied away from saying anything, was trying to approach the situation with some tact and grace.

Abe didn't notice.

The smaller boy looked over to the female manager for some guidance. The manager gave the third baseman as reassuring smile and nodded her head.

Tajima turned his focus back toward his teammate. "Well, I, um, how do I put it…" Despite seeing the signs from Shinooka he was still having a hard time with this. She just couldn't understand how he felt. This could surely ruin him. "Actually, Abe, I was trying to impress you."

Abe looked dumbstruck. "Wha?" Was all he could manage.

"You see, Abe," Tajima continued. Shame flowed from all corners of his body as he finished his statement. "I kinda sorta have a bit of a crush on you."

Abe tried to think about what he had just heard. Failure. He tried again. Failure. Twice failed he switched his brain off of voice mode and went by instinct. "I see," his voice sounded disappointed and dejected. 'Great you just screwed this up, you know that right?' Abe's brain yelled in head.

Tajima bowed his head. He knew he had just taken a fairly large gamble and failed. 'Looks like things are going to become difficult,' the third baseman thought. He knew Abe had not accepted him, and to be honest did not really know why he thought the larger boy would. "I, um," he said. 'Better save what little I have and walk away. I'll deal with this in private,' he thought. The normally energetic teen lifted his head back up and tried to put on a façade of his normal self. "I should be going. Glad to see you back on the team."

3…2…1…Instincts failed; time for the brain's second chance. Abe felt a rush of activity in his brain. It took him a second to accept and evaluate everything that was going on around him. Tajima just confessed and was now walking away dejected. Shinooka looked as if Abe had just rejected her personally as well. 'Good going feelings,' Abe's brain said to himself. 'Look what I have to deal with.'

Abe had to think of something. "Tajima wait," he gasped at the realization that the third baseman was anything but himself.

"No it's alright Abe, I understand," Tajima said trying to hide his feelings. He kept walking.

"No Tajima wait, I want to talk to you about this."

Tajima blew him off. His reaction proved that he had just lost all respect for his teammate and the smaller teen knew that while Abe would not act differently, at least not in front of others, the catcher definitely did not like Tajima for what he had just done. 'I'll save you the breath,' Tajima thought. 'I already understand.'

Abe got frustrated when the smaller teen kept walking. Did he not understand that Abe wanted to talk to him? The catcher looked at his teammate as he walked by. Abe knew that he had to get Tajima to stop and listen to what Abe had to say but by the way Tajima was reacting to Abe's inaction Abe knew what Tajima was thinking, thinking that Abe hated the third baseman. That couldn't be farther from the truth; not after what Tajima did not only for the team but for Mihashi and for Abe himself. Abe owed Tajima more than anything he could pay back.

And besides, Abe had nothing against anyone who was gay. He had never met someone who was out before; there were a few people at Nishiura that Abe thought _had _to be gay but he was not sure. He was not one to judge; Abe accepted the fact that a person was not always in control of who they had feelings for. Now he just had to convince Tajima the he was not mad but instead flattered.

But the smaller boy was doing a fine job of pissing Abe off. The third baseman had done an admirable job at trying to save face, despite the fact that Abe saw right through the attempt, and walked away with his head high. But now the smaller teen was dragging his head and creating such a sad scene that made Abe feel so evil. Granted the catcher felt like that anyway but he did not need the reminder from his teammate. "Tajima, get back here," Abe called one last time.

Ignored.

'That's it,' Abe thought to himself. The catcher turned and stormed over to his friend. Tajima would not acknowledge his teammate so instead of trying to reason with the smaller teen Abe bent over and picked Tajima up over his shoulder.

Shinooka gasped at Abe and Tajima protested any way he could. "Abe what are you doing put me down!" The smaller teen yelled.

Abe ignored the two and instead walked Tajima over to a nearby bench and set him down. The moment Tajima's feet touched the ground he attempted to get up but Abe put a hand to his chest to keep him down. "Sit," Abe commanded. "Shinooka-chan, you too."

Tajima sat and did not move. Shinooka tentatively made her way over to the bench and took a seat next to the third baseman.

Abe squatted down in front of them. He felt it would be best not to talk down to them but instead to get down to their level and explain things to the two. "First of all, Tajima, I really am flattered that you have a crush on me, I really am." Abe made sure to look directly into Tajima's small black eyes as he spoke. He knew it was of absolute importance that he showed sincerity not only in his voice but in his body language as well. "I'm flattered," he continued, "but I don't feel the same. It's not that I disapprove, on the contrary I support you one hundred percent; but I just don't feel the same about you. Do you understand?"

Tajima still had an unfaltering sad expression on his face but Abe saw the twinkle of life back in the eyes of his friend. The two sat in silence for a few seconds before Tajima spoke. "I, I guess so."

Abe was not convinced. "Tajima, I mean exactly as I say. Things are probably going to feel awkward for a little while but please believe me when I say that you are and always will be my friend. Nothing is any different than what it was."

The third baseman looked over at the manager who had been quiet the whole time. She smiled at the smaller boy causing Tajima to smile as well.

"So wait, Shinooka-chan, how long did you know about this?" Abe asked.

The manager was startled to hear her name. She had hoped to stay out of everything despite her role in encouraging Tajima to tell Abe how he felt. "I been thinking it for about two weeks now but I didn't know until Tajima-kun confirmed it on Saturday," she said. "I went to see Mihashi-kun and Tajima-kun came out looking very depressed as I was going in. Mihashi-kun was talking to Hanai-kun, Sakaeguchi-kun, and Izumi-kun so I decided to talk to him and see what was wrong." Shinooka blushed as she recalled more of the story. "Tajima-kun said he was having some problems and when I guessed right he was upset and I promised him that I would keep it a secret. Since then I've been encouraging Tajima-kun to tell you how he feels about you Abe-kun."

The catcher sat for a moment, the events of the night unfolding again in his head. Tajima dress up. Tajima becoming embarrassed when Abe pointed it out. Tajima and Shinooka at the back of the group talking to themselves. Tajima and Shinooka sitting next to each other as well as Abe during dinner. Tajima trying to have a conversation with Abe. Shinooka following Abe and Tajima home. Bingo.

Abe, still squatting down in front of his friends, smiled; things made sense now. "I see," he said. "I've been wondering why you two were acting weird tonight. It was nothing obvious but more just a feeling I had," he added after seeing the new look of worry on Tajima's face. "I wouldn't worry, Tajima. I think that with this group of guys and what you've done this year if you do decide to come out and tell them they would all accept you as if nothing was different. Momoe sure knows how to put a team together."

Tajima looked relieved. "It was hard enough to tell you," he said. "Shinooka-chan kept pestering me about it since Saturday."

The manager looked at the third baseman. He was bantering now so he must be back into his comfort zone. "Well I had to get you to tell him. See how much better you feel?"

"Yeah," Tajima replied without missing a beat. "A perfect confession of love with no mishaps."

Abe laughed and sat on the bench on the other side of Tajima while Shinooka shot the two boys a dirty look.

The trio sat and talked about their love-lives. It turned out that none of the three had ever been in any type of meaningful relationship, which was not too surprising seeing as they all were only in their first year of high school. Abe could not resist himself and directly asked Shinooka if she had a crush on anyone on the team. The manager blushed deeper than usual, which surprised both Abe and Tajima who had thought the feat was not humanly possible, and said that she would neither confirm nor deny anything. Abe processed the piece of information and knew there was probably someone on the team who she _did_ like. Unfortunately for Abe no matter how hard he tried the manager would not elaborate.

Shinooka turned the question back on Abe. "Is there anyone at school that _you_ have a crush on, Abe-kun?" She asked.

Abe smiled at her. After seeing the whole display she put on he felt like the two deserved to know 'deep dark secret no. 5' from the chest of Abe. "I don't know," the catcher replied truthfully, "I mean there are a few people I'm attracted to at school but I wouldn't go out with any of them."

Tajima and Shinooka looked at the dark haired teen quizzically. "Why is that, Abe-kun?" Shinooka asked.

"Well I just don't think I'm boyfriend material," the catcher said truthfully.

"What?" Tajima exclaimed.

Abe grinned, it felt a little funny hearing that from Tajima while knowing his secret. "I just feel like I wouldn't make a good boyfriend."

"Why is that Abe-kun?" Shinooka questioned.

"For starters I carry a lot of emotional baggage," the catcher answered, which was true. Memories from junior high and most recently the 'game of doom' as Abe dubbed the last game of their season haunted Abe's dreams. He slept better than Mihashi did due in part because his junior high days were not as traumatic but Abe still tossed a lot while he slept.

Tajima was surprised. "Really? You? I never would have guessed that you would be so sensitive Abe."

The catcher grinned again at his teammate. "I wouldn't call it sensitive; more like severe pessimism."

"So you don't think one of them could be the one you love; the one you're destined for?" Shinooka asked hesitantly.

Both Tajima and Shinooka locked their eyes on Abe. Abe felt them bore into his soul. It was creeping him out. 'Better go with the truth; who knows what those eyes have seen,' he thought. "Well, um, actually," Abe's voice faltered. Apparently what his mind wanted and his body wanted were too different things. Abe's mind was on a role since the smooth recovery of the Tajima situation so it got precedence. "To be completely honest I don't really," Abe took a deep breath, "believeinlove," he said quickly.

Not quickly enough. Both Tajima and Shinooka understood what Abe said and both looked equally surprised.

"What?" Tajima asked dumbfounded.

"Really?" Shinooka asked, her voice getting higher as she finished each syllable.

Abe did not want to have to explain if he did not have too. He bowed his head in hopes that everything would fly over and they would understand and all would be well.

Fail.

"But you're parents surely love you; or is it just romantic love? Is there different types of love? What about friendship? Are we your friends?" Tajima started firing questions at over six hundred rounds a minute.

A hand silenced the chattering mouth.

'Maybe they weren't ready for this,' Abe thought to himself and took a deep breath to calm himself as well. "I don't feel like there is a concept of love," he started. "I believe that what everyone believes is 'love' is simply a mixture of trust, hope, and attraction. In that sense I don't believe in that 'smitten with love' attitude; instead those people are just having delusions. Trust can be misplaced, attraction can be fatal, hope is only for the hopeful," Abe concluded. He felt a pang of guilt when the smiles left Tajima's and Shinooka's faces.

"But what your parents," Tajima interjected into the pity party. "They love you; don't you love them?"

"Well," Abe started. "They trust and respect me and I honor and respect them," Abe waited to see if either of the two picked up on the lack of the word 'trust'. Neither had. "But my parents and I are different people. I feel like the only thing I have in common with my father is baseball. He wants me to spend every waking moment outside of school focused on baseball; he wants my whole life to be baseball."

"Do you not like baseball, Abe-kun?" Shinooka asked.

"It's not that I don't like it; I just want to have fun while playing it. Even if this Nishiura team was a complete failure and we lost every game we ever played, as long as I had fun playing I would enjoy the sport. On the other hand, if I hated the conditions and the team I was on then I would hate the sport and not want to play."

Tajima picked up on the deflation in Abe's voice; there was a story that the catcher was not sharing. Without even thinking of another plausible answer Tajima said "is that why you hated the seniors?"

Abe looked up, surprised at Tajima's spot on guess. The catcher smiled at the tactless way his teammate phrased his words. "Yeah. The situation with my pitcher during the seniors, as well as Haruna, made things difficult. You remember Haruna, the pitcher who threw in the second half of the semifinal game we went and watched before the season?"

Tajima nodded his head. Haruna threw some of the fastest balls he had ever seen come from a high school pitcher.

"And as for friendship," Abe continued, "making friends has never been my strongpoint. I use to not believe in that either but since this morning I've been rethinking my logic. I think there is something to this whole 'friendship' thing." Abe had to finish on a strong point. He really did not want to delve into the issue too far; not tonight, not while he was this tired.

The other two took the hint.

"Well I gotta get going," Abe said after a few seconds of an awkward pause. The catcher bid the manager farewell and ruffled the third baseman's hair, trying to make one last attempt at reassurance for the smaller teen. Tajima grinned back up at him.

When Abe got home his mom called him from the kitchen. "Where have you been?" She asked in a pleasant tone.

"Out with the team," was all Abe said as he went upstairs and got ready for bed.


	4. Chapter 4

The weeklong break the team received was much needed. The majority of the team, Suyama and Nishihiro excluded, had seen a slip in their grades. It was nothing serious for most of the team and if pressured about the subject could easily be described as 'first year jitters'. Unfortunately for the team this excluded the player with the most dedication and the player with the most talent. Abe remembered scolding Mihashi about his study skills during the season. After seeing the grade Mihashi earned on a test the catcher scolded the blond boy and told him that if he took half of the time he normally spent on baseball and applied it to studying then Mihashi would be smarter than Nishihiro. Nishihiro, who had overheard Abe's rant at the pitcher along with the rest of the team and perhaps the rest of the school, burst out laughing along with the rest of the team. The group of guys laughed and laughed but they knew it was true; they had all seen Mihashi's pitching target.

Every day at lunch Abe made a point of going over to Tajima and Mihashi's classroom and spending his break with them. Abe was not alone either; because this class had the largest number of baseball team members out of the nine first year classes this classroom became the focal point for the team's lunchtime meetings. Not every member of the team came every day, but there was always someone on the team at the room.

Abe felt like he was required to visit the room during lunch, although he did not mind in the least. He had failed to protect his pitcher once before, despite what Mihashi said was the cause Abe still took it upon himself to be the one to blame, and he was not going to let his pitcher get hurt again even if it meant reminding the blond teen every day to take his pills. Besides Mihashi there was Tajima, who Abe felt a little awkward around after the third baseman confessed to Abe. The catcher did his best to hide the awkwardness and wanted to make a point to see his friend on a regular basis to prove that nothing had changed between them.

It was Friday when Momoe made her announcement. She sent word through Hanai, Sakaeguchi, and Suyama to have everyone meet at the field on Saturday for a brief meeting and then a workout. Abe was feeling particularly out of shape after eating so much ramen on Monday and then sitting around for the rest of the week not doing anything active. The catcher was pretty sure the rest of the team was the same way. They all had to miss golden week due to baseball practice and had not had a break from the strain for a long time so it was only natural that the teens at the prime of youth would sit around trying to relax and regain what little bit of summer vacation they missed.

Momoe took the team's lethargic attitude into her planning. Since there was no school that day she had the team meet just after lunch giving them plenty of time to sleep in; time she spent at one of her part time jobs earning money for a few pieces of equipment.

It was well before the time everyone was supposed to meet when Abe arrived. He liked to get places early so that people did not have to wait on him; instead he could spend his time relaxing and waiting for everyone else. The weather outside was still warm. Summer had technically ended but the early months of fall blended together with the warm sun of summer creating a sleepy aura that held Abe in its stranglehold. The catcher yawned despite having been awake for a few hours and decided that since he was still tired and the grass was soft and the sky was blue and that he should just go with nature and lie down. Puffy white blobs floated across the sky as Abe watched, trying to discern familiar shapes from the masses of water vapor. The catcher sighed to himself, his unimaginative personality mocking him from the sky. As hard as Abe tried all the shapes looked like clouds, nothing more and nothing less.

Despite all the rest Abe got during the week he was still tired. The sun beat across his face while the wind gently rustled over the grass. He felt like a child again, sprawled out in the park close to his house. The dark haired boy knew that if he looked hard enough to his left he would see his mother and father sitting under a tree holding hands and watching their two boys play in the sun. The memory flooded Abe as he then heard the sounds of Shun over to his right, the five year old boy running around with some of the other boys his age from the neighborhood. Abe liked this memory, it felt warm and gentle. His parents often used to take him and his brother to the park on Sundays during the summer and the four would enjoy the day together. Life in that memory was perfect for Abe; and he believed deep down in his heart that while the situation had changed he could still achieve that feeling of perfection with the friends he had around him. Abe blinked his eyes, blinked again holding his eyes closed a little longer, and soon was asleep.

When Mihashi arrived at the field he was hoping to see Abe so the pair could throw. The blond boy fumbled with the baseball he carried with him everywhere while he walked onto the field. It took a moment for the pitcher to notice the sleeping boy in the middle of the infield near the mound but when he did the pitcher gasped. All Mihashi could think about was how un-Abe it was for the catcher to by lying in the middle of the field instead of preparing for the workout or working on his glove.

Mihashi set his stuff down on the nearby bench and crept over towards the sleeping boy. Abe looked peaceful lying on the ground. Mihashi moved a little closer, now over half way between the boy and the bench.

'Maybe he fell and got hurt,' the pitcher thought. 'I better check to make sure.' Mihashi split the difference once again now well into the infield. The pitcher took slow steady steps as he neared the mound and the boy. Once Mihashi was within a meter's radius he rushed over as quietly as he could to his friend.

The peaceful look on Abe's face as his chest slowly rose and fell surprised Mihashi. The pitcher dropped down to his knees and sat on his heels watching the catcher sleep. Whenever the catcher was awake he always had fire in his eyes. It did not matter that Abe almost never showed his emotions on his face, once Mihashi got to know the catcher Mihashi knew where to look to find out what kind of mood Abe was in: his eyes. That's why Mihashi put up with the overbearing, bossy, demanding, pushy, stubborn, forceful catcher; the pitcher knew that Abe always pushed and prodded and steered Mihashi because Abe was generally concerned for the pitcher. That is why Mihashi felt happy at Nishiura, no matter what Abe never wanted Mihashi off the mound. Everyone acknowledged him and at the forefront of that wave of understanding was Abe.

"Mihashi what are you doing?" Sakaeguchi called out.

Mihashi snapped out of his trance. The pitcher looked over to see Sakaeguchi, Izumi, and Suyama looking at him awkwardly. Mihashi stood up and waved his arms and put his hands over his mouth trying to signal to the others to be quiet.

Izumi saw Mihashi sitting awkwardly close to the sleeping figure of Abe. When Sakaeguchi called his name the pitcher visibly shook and whipped his head to look at the boys. Izumi was not surprised at the Mihashi-esc antics. What did surprise him was when Mihashi started waving his arms wildly and proceeded to cover his mouth. The three right away realized that he was trying to tell them to be quiet; but instead all three lost their cool and started to laugh.

Mihashi ran over to them to the trio. "Shhh," the blond boy hushed them, "Abe's sleeping don't wake him up!"

Izumi continued to laugh but at a reduced volume. After a few moments the speed demon regained control of his sides. "Why were you so close?" He asked still chuckling.

Mihashi was fidgeting again. Izumi watched as the boy squirmed. If it was anyone else Izumi would assume that he was either about to be lied to. Instead he waited for the awkward boy to think things through.

"I, I saw Abe-kun l-lying on the ground and w-went over to see if h-he was hurt."

Understandable. Izumi nodded his head accepting what the pitcher was saying.

Momoe was the next to arrive, the fact that she had just come from a job apparent by her appearance. She saw Abe lying on the ground and was about to wake him when she saw the expression of pure Zen on his face. She knew that Mihashi had had an emotional season but Abe was right at the center of Mihashi's emotional thrill-ride as well. And given what had transpired the previous weekend and through the week the coach figured that Abe must be worn out from all of the stress, anxiety, and happiness. She let him sleep.

By noon all but Tajima had arrived, which everyone felt was a little weird because he lived the closest to the field. With each new arrival the growing group of individuals shushed the newcomers to make sure they would not wake the sleeping catcher.

When the third baseman finally reached the field the others immediately silenced his loud and exuberant greeting. "He's sleeping," Mihashi said, eyes twinkling while pointing to the body sprawled on the infield.

Tajima would have been wierded out by this but instead he was use to it. The third baseman looked over to see Abe on the grass next to the pitcher's mound. Without saying a word the smallest teen silently walked over to where the catcher lie and squatted down looking directly at his crush's handsome face.

Abe got the feeling that someone was watching him. The catcher decided that he had slept long enough and chose to open his eyes. Through cracked slits the catcher saw something inches from his face. Further examination of the form lingering inches above the catcher's head caused the catcher to jump. "What the hell!" He yelled as his mind started to process what was around him.

Tajima jumped back in fright.

"What the…what time is it?" The catcher yawned once he realized the immediate danger had passed. He surveyed the field only to find eight of his teammates, Shinooka, Momoe, and Shiga-sensei looking at him. Abe turned his gaze to the boy who moments before was too close to Abe.

Tajima had the stupidest grin Abe had ever seen plastered on his face. "Time for the meeting!" Tajima yelled jubilantly.

The crowd heard the smaller boy and laughed.

The dark haired catcher growled something about being too close and made his way to join the others.

Momoe's sermon was relatively short. She thanked the team for their good season, for giving it their all, and sticking with the program; after the last bit her eyes darted to Abe, and finally detailed her high hopes for the future. This was normal coaching protocol, and that was why the team was startled to hear it.

After finishing her spiel she went into her main reason for calling the team together: fall and winter training. The coming of the colder months meant that the team would be spending more of their time indoors which meant that their fitness would suffer. To counter this the devious coach told the team that they were to run the halls every other morning before and after school. "But I warn you," Momoe said with the evil glint in her eye causing all ten players to stiffen. "You must finish your run at least an hour before school starts and when you have to run after school you can't start until an hour and a half after school gets out. During this time you will be lifting weights in the gym until it is time for you to start your run." Momoe turned her focus to Hanai, Sakaeguchi, and Suyama. "How many times you run around the school is up to Hanai-kun, Sakaeguchi-kun, and Suyama-kun."

The three leaders nodded in acknowledgement.

"But for now," Momoe continued, "we will be practicing every day until we can no longer see, just like during season so be ready to practice outside. From now until we go indoors it will be all skills with no conditioning so make sure to give it your all during the drills."

And so it was. The work out session was light and laid back, although Momoe promised them that the following workouts would not be this easy. The ten worked on stretching, light calisthenics, and then finally the team spent time working on conditioning. By the end of practice the team was exhausted but excited. After the practice they talked about weight lifting. None of members of the team had ever seriously weight lifted; all being too young to seriously train but now that they were advancing into puberty it was the perfect time to put the testosterone to work. The team was abuzz with the prospect of bulking up. The protein powder that Momoe got them after the competition would do the team wonders and many were commenting on what the team would be able to do if the already technical and highly skilled team got the power to hit the long ball currently reserved for Hanai and Abe; even if they never hit it they were the only ones with the strength and size.

"Just think," said Izumi to the group as they packed up their equipment, "with Tajima's batting average if he gets bigger and stronger then he will be a one man team for real."

Abe looked up fry tying his shoes. "That may be true," he said, "but you guy's gotta remember; adding muscle changes the way your body moves. It'll take a while to get use to it so make sure you're skills don't slack."

The group nodded and sounded their agreement. All of the physical training would be pointless if it threw off their coordination and abilities.

"Mihashi," the catcher said turning to the pitcher.

Mihashi jumped at the sound of his name.

Abe was disappointed at the way his pitcher jumped after the catcher said his name. 'Looks like I still have a way to go,' the catcher thought. Seeing that the pitcher was focused on his black haired friend Abe continued. "Mihashi, I want you to get bigger as well. You're control is beyond extraordinary but your speed is lacking. If you were to get stronger, your speed would increase. But the change in your body would throw yourself off and could make your precision pitches inaccurate, especially if you didn't practice for the entire winter."

Mihashi's eyes lit up when Abe told him how getting stronger would make his pitches faster. But when the catcher continued with the consequences he noted how the eyes of the pitcher dulled. Abe was content with Mihashi's pitching ability as it is. At the beginning of the year when Momoe suggested strengthening up the pitcher's trunk muscles Abe was against it because it might throw off the blond boy's pitching. It turned out alright but Abe did not want to take that chance again. Besides, if Mihashi pitched the way Abe told him they could keep any team scoreless, or as close to given natural flukes that are bound to happen.

"Anyway, Mihashi," Abe continued. The smaller boy was still staring off into space so Abe decided to get his attention. He got up and crouched down in front of the pitcher, making sure to get to eye level. The pitcher then clapped his hands in front of Mihashi's wide eyes making sure not to lay a finger on the pitcher. Mihashi jumped at the loud noise and looked around, finally focusing back on the larger black haired boy. "Anyway," Abe continued, "I think that in order to keep your accuracy up you need to make sure you keep pitching, now that you know what you are doing."

"Mmm…" Mihashi grunted. The gravity of loosing his control was on his face.

"I think that you are fine the way you are; as long as you don't shake off my signs that is. But if you want to increase your velocity," Abe did not want to say it but knew he had to be fare to Mihashi. Nothing would increase the pitcher's confidence like throwing over 120km/h. After a short pause he continued, "Then you should follow the directions and take the recommended amounts of the protein before, during, and after you lift weights as well as throw often working on all of your pitches and motions to make sure you don't tweak anything unexpectedly. But–"

Until then Mihashi had been listening to he pitcher intently, though he did not look like it. When Abe suddenly stopped talking Mihashi stopped what he was doing and looked up.

Abe saw that he was wrong and the pitcher really was listening so he decided to continue. "Anyway, if you are going to weight lift and pitch then I want you to promise that you will only throw with me so I can make sure you don't mess anything up. Deal?"

Abe looked quizzically as Mihashi shook his head so violently that the catcher thought he might hurt himself.

"OK, Mihashi," the catcher said, fearful that the pitcher would hurt his neck if he kept shaking it that hard for much longer. "I don't know what your usual pitching schedule is but whenever you want to pitch call me so that I can supervise. I suggest we start out throwing between the morning run and when school starts, if we throw for half an hour between the end of the run and the start of school that will leave us time to get ready for school, and we have an hour break during lunch so we can also throw then." Abe liked the idea more an more as he said it. This way he could set easy time limits on the amount of pitching the smaller boy does; only enough to keep Mihashi's accuracy up while he works out.

When Abe got home he headed straight to take a bath. Sweat was still beading on his head from the heat and the long walk home and the catcher hated the feeling of dried sweat on his body. He always felt itchy and disgusting if he did not take a shower right away.

Once the door was locked and tub started to fill the black haired teen felt relieved. Showering at home was one of Abe's simple pleasures in life. He typically took a while in the shower but that was due to him doing his favorite pastime: thinking. Abe found the warm temperature and quiet atmosphere of the bath the perfect place to think over anything on his mind. During the season he would spend long tracts of time in the bath preparing strategies for how he would handle the teams Nishiura came up against. Now that the season was over he could use the time to interpret what was going on around him.

Tajima was still on the catcher's mind; or to be more specific Tajima and Shinooka. What happened at the ramen shop still unnerved Abe. He now knew why Tajima was acting weird but Shinooka's story did not make sense. The way Abe remembered it the manager took the open seat next to Abe, almost pressed up against the catcher despite the amount of room in the booth, not Tajima. And it was the manager who also controlled much of the conversation while Tajima was only able to butt in here or there. Yet despite all of these signs Shinooka gave her words echoed in Abe's mind; there was always the possibility that she was interested in any of the team's members.

Or maybe she was not?

Either way did Abe care? Did he feel anything towards her? He was definitely in the middle of puberty; there was no doubt about that. The boy had reached what he thought was around his adult height based on the height of the rest of his family, 170 cm at current with maybe another 5 cm by the time he's in his mid twenties. One thing he did notice was the influx of hormones the boy experienced since the end of his second year of junior high. At first it was hard for the boy to control everything. He was constantly confused, depressed, angry, and horny. Being horny was the worst for Abe because what triggered the urge was a complete and total mystery and it always happened at the weirdest times, like in the middle of class or on the train home. But soon he found ample ways to master his emotions which cleared his mind again.

Abe lazily brought his mind back to the original matter at hand. There was not too much he could do about Shinooka unless she made herself obvious and the catcher decided that to act like nothing was different or wrong was the best way to approach the situation. If Abe made things weird between him and the catcher the results of the team could suffer in a multitude of ways and Abe did not want to be the one responsible, again, for ruining the team.

Then there was the question of what Tajima was doing when Abe woke up. The smaller teen was way too close for Abe, even if Abe knew the third baseman was straight. People have a space bubble and others should respect it, especially while sleeping. What was worse is what Abe imagined the other teen had going through his mind. He was convinced Tajima was going to try to kiss him and for Tajima to try something so…Abe could not think of a great adjective to describe the audacity.

Abe nodded in acceptance of the adjective.

If Tajima were to kiss Abe in front of the team it would all be over. Nobody was more homophobic than teenage boys, it's a proven fact. Abe himself did not have a problem with any orientation be it straight or gay but he could not say the same for the rest of the team. He wanted to believe that the team would not care and be supportive but there was always the possibility, and in matters like this the possibility always is not worth the risk. The catcher admired Tajima's ability to come out to Abe. Abe could only guess what the third baseman went through before he came out.

Half an hour went by and the black haired teen emerged from the bath in his boxers, droplets of water sliding down from his still wet hair. He found it easiest to quickly run a towel through his hair and let it air-dry the rest of the way.

For the rest of the evening Abe sat and did schoolwork. He completed all of his homework and was completely caught up in every subject and decided to try to get ahead in as many subjects as he could. With the onset of practices starting next week the catcher was not sure how much time he would have to keep up with the rest of the class. Besides, the more people on the team who were up to date with their studies the better, just in case a certain few started to fall behind.

Abe laid back and read all night until the words on the page started to melt together. It was late and the pitcher decided to go to sleep. Practice was sure to be tough the coming week and the catcher was sure to have a hard time keeping everything in order.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

The weeks started to slip by. Every time Abe looked forward to the weekend and then once the weekend came he was excited for the week to start back up. Almost every morning the catcher threw with Mihashi along with almost every day at lunch. Abe put a limit on how many days a week they could throw so that the pitcher did not stress anything too much. As far as Abe could tell the pitcher never missed on any of his pitches.

The weather went from the lazy end-of-summer blaze to the chilly mornings of the middle of October. Abe as well as the rest of the team put away their shorts and replaced them with the long pants and sweatshirts that followed the change in season.

Looking back on the growth of the team surprised Abe. It had only been a little over a month since their season ended but the team put in their time in the weight room and the progress was slowly but surely paying off. He noted that while nobody on the team looked any bigger than they had at the beginning of their regiment everyone on the team noted about a ten kilograms worth of an increase on the three major lifts, the bench press, squat press, and the clean and jerk. While ten kilograms was not going to be a game-breaker in terms of long balls, Abe knew that it was a good mark of the progress the team had made.

Abe was right to work ahead on his studies. Between school and practices the amount of time left in a day began to lessen as homework, tests, and workouts intensified. All of the stress the boys as well as the rest of the school were put under began to show in various ways. Some people began talking to themselves, working out complex math problems in their heads as well as mouths while they walked down the hall; while others became either more introverted or extroverted and sometimes both. Instead Abe was like the rest of the school and got sick on and off. It was never anything too terrible, but it seemed like every few days his nose ran and his throat itched and scratched sending him into fits of coughing and hacking.

This week was not much different than the six that had passed. Abe had an important literature test coming up that he studied for whenever he had a few spare minutes. On Monday, the night before the test, Abe was up until late into the morning rereading his class notes and the summaries of the books the class was supposed to read. That night Abe only got a couple hours of sleep, making it more like a nap than actual sleep, before he had to get up and throw with Mihashi. That morning the two boys were going to meet at Mihashi's house since it was too dark to throw at school and Mihashi had his practice are wired with lights, and also since the team did not have to run that morning they had more time before they had to be at school.

The catcher was groggy as he rolled out of bed. Half of him wanted to call the blond pitcher and tell him to cancel the pitching session but he knew that if he cancelled the session that Mihashi would throw anyway. Besides, Abe knew that once he got through the literature test during second period he would be home free and since he had history during the third period and with history being Abe's best class the black haired teen decided that he could sleep during that period.

Once the teen had his feet on the floor he was positive that he would snap right out of the funk he was in and wake up.

Fail.

The catcher stumbled around as he managed to get dressed into a pair of sweatpants and an old sweatshirt to work out in while he carefully folded up his school uniform and packed it into a separate bag and put the whole thing into his baseball bag. Abe made room by removing the catcher's protective gear and leaving only his glove. There would be no batter taking swings so Abe did not need to worry about foul tips and since it was Mihashi he was dealing with the catcher did not have to worry about taking a wild pitch. The catcher was more worried about passing out on the way to the Mihashi residence than anything else.

Before he knew what was going on Abe was downstairs with his hand on the refrigerator door. He did not know how he made it downstairs or when. Instead he decided to go with it and grabbed a glass of milk and a banana for breakfast.

Once the catcher finished getting ready he departed. It was a fifteen minute walk from Abe's side of the CD store over to Mihashi's side. While walking he ran through his list of dates and authors and literature titles. Once he reached the haikus the catcher started to drag his feet. The teacher alluded to there being poetry on the test and for good measure he decided to memorize all of those as well. Now the poets and authors started to blend together and he was not sure who was who.

By the time Abe sorted out the poets and the authors he was halfway up the walkway to the Mihashi residence. The large house loomed in front of the catcher as he smiled. He made a small bet with himself on whether or not the pitcher would be up. Abe bet that he would not.

He knocked on the front door. Abe heard the scuffle of a busy morning starting off from behind the surprisingly large door. After a few seconds the dark haired boy knocked again and waited.

A rather skinny man with the same dirty blond hair as Mihashi answered the door. The man was taller than normal but skinnier than average as well. "Ah, you must be Takaya Abe-kun," the larger man said.

Abe connected the dots. This man was skinny like Mihashi, had the same hair as Mihashi, and the unmistakable trademarked enormous Mihashi eyes. Abe remembered back throughout all the months he had known the pitcher Abe had never seen Mihashi's father. The dark haired teen looked up at the massive eyed man. "Yes sir," he said. "Um, is Miha- I mean Ren home?" He asked.

The taller man broadened the smile that was already on his face. "Yes, he should be coming down any minute. I woke him a few minutes ago."

"Thank you," said Abe. "The two of us were supposed to pitch this morning."

"Ah yes," the elder Mihashi said. "You are the catcher, correct?"

"Yes sir. How did you know?"

"My son told me a lot about you. Plus he's the pitcher and you are here to throw so that would most likely make you Nishiura's catcher, Takaya Abe-kun."

Abe was impressed. Mihashi senior was very smart indeed.

"Why don't you come inside while you wait for Ren? I'm sure there's breakfast for you if you would like it. And I must bid you a good day because I am off to work." With that the elder Mihashi slid past Abe and walked to the train station.

Abe decided to accept the welcome and entered the house. After taking off his shoes he joined the pitcher's mother in the kitchen. "Good morning Abe-kun," she said, bowing her head slightly.

Abe gave her a big smile. "Good morning, ma'am," he said, bowing considerably.

The blond haired lady was amused by Abe's politeness. She gave a laugh before asking the teen if he wanted any breakfast. Abe knew he could not refuse an offer like this and accepted a bun out of the baked goods she presented him with.

The two made small talk while waiting for Ren to emerge from upstairs. Abe was glad that she did not say a word about the condition of her son in any way and instead focused her side of the talk on Abe himself as well as school. After only a few minutes Ren Mihashi entered the kitchen and greeted his mother and, with a surprised look greeted his catcher.

The two Mihashis and Abe ate in relative silence before the boys finished. Ren stood up and walked to the back door, beyond which the elaborate pitching mound was set up waiting. Abe followed his friends lead but was unsteady getting to his feet. The catcher yawned and made his way to the front door before going around the back of the house to where Mihashi was waiting.

Abe had Mihashi run through their stretching before starting. The sudden movements made Abe feel lightheaded. He could tell that he needed to wake up and was glad that he was getting this rush of activity to jumpstart his system. But for as much as the two were moving and stretching Abe still felt weak and tired.

Once they were through with their calisthenics and stretching the two teens assumed their positions. Abe was surprised at the setup of the facility. The last time he saw the practice area there were lights hanging from behind the pitcher but now there was no such interference. "Looks like you made some adjustments to this place," Abe pointed out. "Last time I was here there was a light right behind you that would have given me quite a bit of glare."

Mihashi was surprised. Abe watched as the pitcher's head snapped up and then fidgeted, looking in every direction except at Abe. Abe was starting to get annoyed but soon the pitcher straightened out. "M-my dad helped m-me move the lights," the dirty blond pitcher said. Before Abe could say anything else the pitcher burst out saying "d-do you like it, A-Abe-kun? W-we did it so th-that you could see be-better."

Abe smiled. He was glad the two Mihashis went through the trouble for him.

The pair threw for a while, enjoying the bonding experience. Abe could feel the atmosphere and was happy at the pleasantness of the air around them. Mihashi was in top form and like usual never missed a pitch that Abe called. He worked through the variety of breaking balls having them break from one end to the other and hitting the multitude of locations. The pitcher had gotten bigger, from what Abe could notice, but it was not physical. Granted the catcher still monitored his pitcher's weight and was glad to see it was almost at 54 kg; but what really impressed the catcher was how Mihashi had simply gotten bigger. He moved with a bit more grace, which to Abe was surprising seeing as the pitcher was a complete klutz in any sort of social situation, though he did have more tact than a certain third baseman. Abe also noticed how the pitcher stood and walked. On the mound Mihashi stood up straighter and kept his head a little higher. All of the work outs and attention the pitcher was getting was definitely affecting Mihashi's weakest area.

Abe was getting uncomfortable. Despite the chill in the pre-dawn air the catcher was sweating as if it was still summer. This perplexed the catcher but he did not worry about it too much; he sweat easily which became a problem more than it should. "Mihashi," he called out, "let's finish up with fastballs. I'm starting to get a little tired."

The pitcher nodded his head at the catcher. Abe started off the regiment with the bottom left hitting Mihashi's special 'floating fast ball' in each zone. By the time Abe reached the middle middle he could tell he was drained. The catcher's eyes started to blur in and out and he caught the next couple of balls simply out of memory of where the pitch was going to be.

'Two more,' the catcher told himself. The catcher made the signals and waited for the pitcher. Oddly enough the pitcher looked quizzically at Abe for a moment before forming up.

Abe set up and waited, glove outstretched in front of him. From what he could see through blurred eyes the pitcher's form was flawless. Abe saw the white of the ball soar from the pitchers hand and arced right towards Abe's outstretched glove. He noted the added velocity that the new Mihashi's fastball had and smiled.

Abe watched as the ball floated upward. The rising illusion at the end of the pitch moved the ball up, up, and above Abe's glove. He had forgotten about the rise in the ball and when the catcher tried to move his arm to react he could not move. His entire body did not respond to any of the commands his brain gave and instead the black haired catcher watched the ball continue rising past his nose-level only to disappear from sight and reappear on his pain radar as what Abe felt had to be a massive divot smashed its way into the black haired teen's skull.

Abe woke up only to find a blinding pain replaced his sense of vision. The bright white light that was in Abe's eyes started to blur and soon turned into shapes. The shapes soon took on colors and Abe recognized a frantic looking Mihashi hurrying to do something above him. Moments later a bigger and female version of his friend appeared in Abe's range of vision. The elder Mihashi moved her mouth a bit and her son left only to reappear a few seconds later with a white cloth in hand. The two dirty blonds above Abe moved their mouths in turn and after a period of time Abe could not determine they sat the catcher up.

Abe soon regained his sense of hearing and the first thing that the black haired catcher heard was Mihashi-kun sobbing. "I've killed him! I've killed him!" The pitcher moaned. Abe could still not see straight but knew that there were massive tears gushing out of the pitcher's eyes. 'He's so melodramatic,' the catcher thought.

"Alright, Ren," a harsh voice hit Abe's ears, but the more he thought about it the voice did not sound harsh. He was confused. "We're going to help him into the kitchen. Grab his right arm and help him up; I'll take the left arm. Make sure you keep the cloth on his forehead, we don't want that to start again."

Before he knew it Abe was being lifted up onto his feet. He thought about his feet and soon the prospect of walking occurred to the catcher. As the two Mihashis flanking him on either side held the boy steady the trio slowly moved toward the back door. Abe took a few shaky steps before loosing his balance. It was too hard.

The mother and son duo grabbed the dark haired teen and steadied him back on his feet. After a few seconds they tried again and managed to half walk half drag the larger boy into the house.

Once in the kitchen Abe was seated where only half an hour ago he had been eating breakfast. Abe watched as a red and white tie dyed cloth was removed from his head only to be replaced by a large bandage. The catcher was in a pleasant mood as he watched the younger Mihashi cry and moan about killing his friend while the elder Mihashi cleaned everything up. Slowly the black haired boy's brain started to reboot and the fuzzy feeling that enshrouded his mind lifted leaving behind a jabbing pain in his forehead and a constant dull throb throughout the rest of the cranium. He blinked and started to look around, noting the increase in pain whenever he moved his head. 'Note to self: don't do that,' he thought.

The elder Mihashi noticed the life back in her son's friend. "Abe-kun, how are you feeling?" She asked.

Abe could not help but smile at the concern almost overpowering her voice. "I think I'm doing better," he said. "What happened?"

"Apparently you got hit in the head with a pitch and were knocked unconscious. You have a nice cut on your forehead that's welting up. All in all you should be fine," the tall woman answered.

Before Abe could show his gratitude he was assailed by the younger Mihashi. "AAAbe-kuuun!" The dirty blond wailed. "You're a-a-a-alright." The pitcher latched himself around the catcher.

"Ren!" The taller woman shrieked. That was not what Abe needed after something like this. "Can't you see he's injured?"

The pitcher loosened his grip on the catcher but did not fully let go. Abe did not mind one bit. "Geeze I tell you," she murmured more to herself than anyone. She had an icepack in her hand and placed it on Abe's head.

Abe was surprised at how cold the bag was on his sore skin. The lump on his head protested at the cold bag but Abe was enjoying the chill he was getting. He had not realized that he was still sweating all over despite being knocked unconscious and having lain on the ground for an indiscernible amount of time.

Ren's mother noticed this too. After giving Abe an icepack she noticed how the boy was still sweating and put the back of her hand on the side of his neck and the back of her other hand on her own neck. "Oh my Abe-kun, you're burning up. Let me take your temperature."

Abe looked at the woman as if she just spoke to him in Greek. "Oh don't worry about it I'm sure I'm fine," he responded.

"What could it hurt to check?" She asked. Abe saw her point and decided not to press the issue any more. He was sure he was fine, simply a little tired and worn out from the throwing and staying up most of the night; no harm could come from letting her take his temperature.

Mihashi senior left the kitchen for a quick stint to the bathroom and the first aid kit and when she returned she had a small glass tube. After rinsing it under the sink for a moment she handed it to Abe. "Could you put this in your mouth for a moment?" She asked. Abe knew it was not a question.

Both of the Mihashi faces watched Abe for the full minute. The pitcher still had tears lining the corners of his amazingly wide eyes while the pitcher's mother resembled more of a mother bird caring for her young than anything else. Abe really wanted to say something but knew he only had to be patient for the minute before they would see he was fine and the two boys could head off to school.

It was time and the taller woman pulled out the thermometer. She examined the red liquid and frowned. "I see," she said turning her gaze up into Abe's eyes. "You have a fever."

Abe stared back at her. He was a bit surprised at the news, but after second of analyzing the facts it made sense. Abe was tired. Abe had blurred vision. Abe was constantly warm. It was cold and flu season. Abe had a runny nose. Abe had a cough. Abe had a cold. "It's probably just a cold," he said, "nothing to get worried over." Abe stood up, which was difficult because the pitcher was still hanging on him. "Come on, Mihashi, we better head off to school. I wanna get there early enough so that I can take a shower." Abe turned to walk towards the back door but was a bit unsteady on his feet.

The hand of the elder Mihashi steadied Abe's balance but she had a stern look in her eyes. "I'm sorry, Abe-kun, but you're in no shape to go to school. You are still a little concussed from taking the baseball to the head and on top of that you have a pretty bad cold. I'm going to call your mother and tell her what's going on."

"Don't bother," Abe said matter-of-factly, "my mom is away for a few days and my dad is already at work."

"Then it's settled, I'll call the school and tell them that you aren't coming in. You can sleep in Ren's room while he's at school." She turned to her son and continued, "Can you draw a bath for Abe-kun and clean up your room a little?"

"I thank you for all this, I really do," Abe said while Mihashi ran upstairs. "But I'll be fine at home it's really no problem."

Mrs. Mihashi looked at the catcher and smiled an awkwardly big smile. "Oh I couldn't have that. You're already here anyway so just rest up and make yourself at home. I've got to go to work in a little bit but I want you to relax."

That settled it, Abe knew. There was no arguing with her. It would be awkward to shower at the Mihashi residence not to mention sleeping at his best friend's house while nobody was home. What was worse was that he would be in the pitcher's bed, but then again the residence did not have a guest bedroom for the dark haired teen to sleep in so Abe was stuck.

Ren returned to the kitchen. "I-it's ready, Abe-kun."

"Thanks," Abe said as he smiled at the catcher.

"Get b-better, Abe-kun," the pitcher stammered then blushed.

Abe raised an eyebrow.

The two Mihashis bid Abe farewell and left him alone in their rather spacious home. The catcher thought it best to hurry up and shower then go right to sleep. It would be best to get this day over with as soon as he could, he was embarrassed enough and did not want to draw the stay out any longer.

Once in the bathroom Abe decided that despite there being nobody else at home it was best not to linger like he usually did. One thing he did do was remove his bandage to check out what happened to his head. Instead of his normal flat forehead there was a massive swollen lump the size of an egg protruding from his skull. The lump was a shiny blue-purple color and on the very top was a good size scab from where the force of the ball broke the catcher's skin. 'Wow, all this from one of Mihashi's pitches,' he thought. Abe was impressed as to how far Mihashi had come. 'Man, not only this shiny bruise but a concussion as well.'

The catcher decided it would be too weird to linger in the bath and soon he was dry and changed into the pants and undershirt of his school uniform. Abe normally slept only in his boxers but that would be too weird of a thing to do, especially in his best friend's bed. When he reached the familiar bedroom the he pulled back only the top sheet and once he was in under the top sheet the catcher had no problem falling asleep.

Abe awoke to the feeling of a hand on his neck. He was still groggy and in a haze from the concussion and the only thing he could feel was a cool touch on his neck. 'It's probably Mihashi-san,' he told himself. Only once he opened his eyes and his vision straightened out did he see he was wrong. Mihashi-kun was standing over him with the back of his hand ever-so-gently touching Abe's neck. He was shocked and surprised at his friend's action. 'But this does feel good,' Abe smiled to himself.

The catcher waited until the blond took his hand off of him before Abe showed any signs of life. The pain in his head replaced the fog when he tried to sit up making the catcher a little weary. Disorientated, the catcher lost his balance and started to fall back towards the bed but a hand caught him and helped him sit up. Abe looked up and instantly was lost into Mihashi's obscenely large eyes.

"Ah, um, ah," the blond stuttered. "Um, A-Abe-kun, h-how are you f-feeling?"

Somewhere far off in the distance someone asked Abe a question. The catcher tried to fight off the spell Mihashi had cast with his eyes and emerged successful, but barely. "I, I'm much better," he said in a shaky voice, "thank you, Mihashi."

"Aaaaabe-kun!" Yelled the number one moment-killer, Yuichiro Tajima.

'Wait, moment-killer? That was a moment? With Mihashi?' Abe thought.

The smallest of the Nishiura players ran over to the bed and sat at Abe's feet. The trio was joined by Izumi and to Abe's surprise Hamada. Izumi saw the surprise on Abe's face and said, "Mihashi told us what happened in class. The three of us wanted to see how you were doing."

This made sense to Abe.

"I can't believe one of Mihashi's pitches knocked you out," Tajima laughed.

Abe smiled because he had made a connection: Tajima's intelligence was inversely proportional to the amount of time that elapsed since he was last in a classroom. The smile bought him some time but Abe had a real choice to make. He could save himself and his dignity and blame it on the cold and lack of sleep; or he could bear the brunt of the jokes and inflate Mihashi's confidence. There was no contest, Abe chose the latter. "Hey Tajima, you try being hit in the head with one of Mihashi's pitches and lets see how you do." As an afterthought he added, "Actually I don't know, the head might be the safest place to hitchya."

The group laughed at the third baseman's expense. Mihashi beamed with pride at the affects of his pitching. This was proof positive that the meek dirty blond haired teen was growing and getting better.

Izumi grinned. "Either way, that looks like one heck of a nice lump on your head." The others murmured in agreement.

"Yeah it's huge," Hamada added.

"When I checked it this morning it was all blue and purple," Abe said.

"Still is," Tajima pointed out.

"That's a nice size scab there too," Izumi said. "I bet it bled like none other."

"Mmm," Mihashi grunted.

"It's going to leave a nice size scar though," Abe said a little disheartedly. He noticed the pitcher fidgeting in his seat looking embarrassed so he added, "But I don't mind. Heck, if it would help Mihashi's confidence I'd gladly have a scar twice this big."

"I think I can see the laces," Tajima laughed.

"It almost looks like a lightening bolt," Hamada continued the joke.

The five friends talked amongst themselves for a few minutes before Tajima's stomach cut everyone off. "Looks like its time for lunch," Izumi said. He and Hamada moved towards the door while Mihashi and Tajima stayed behind to make sure Abe was able to move. The two teammates flanked the sides of the catcher as he tried to stand up. When he reached his feet Abe was reacquainted with the familiar fog and throbbing pain in his head. After a step forward his body mocked his effort by collapsing back onto the bed.

Instantly Mihashi and Tajima were right beside him hoisting the catcher back into a sitting position. Izumi and Hamada had turned around after hearing the catcher fall and were standing behind the two smallest teens. Abe looked at the four, his head still swimming. "Uhh," he grunted while trying to mentally suppress the pain. Failure. "Mihashi, do you have any aspirin? My head kinda hurts and I'm kinda dizzy."

The blond nodded his head and ran across the hall and into the bathroom. The four left in the bedroom watched as he frantically opened the cabinets looking for the pain meds. Mihashi was snatching bottles off the shelf, looking at them, and throwing them onto the counter at an excessive rate. Finally after a few seconds Izumi got up and walked over to the pitcher. Izumi looked at the surprisingly large pile of medication bottles and found what he was looking for. The small bottle of aspirin in hand Izumi tapped Mihashi on the shoulder and held the bottle up, smiling. Mihashi snatched the bottle from Izumi's hand and ran back over to Abe and thrust the bottle into his hands.

Abe let out a sigh and Tajima and Hamada turned their backs on the pitcher-catcher duo and started sniggering. "Mihashi thank you," Abe said then promptly popped two of the pills.

Despite knowing that the pills needed a little while to kick in Abe once again got to his feet. The other teens only had a little under an hour before they had to head back and the black haired catcher wanted to eat lunch with them at the very least. The others were surprised at his sudden movement and moved beside him to catch him if he fell. "Thanks guys," Abe said as he smiled at them. He took a step. His head spun and throbbed but Abe could mentally orientate himself. Step by step he slowly made his way out of the room and to the top of the stairs.

"Hamada and I will go in front incase he falls forward. Mihashi, you and Tajima make sure he doesn't go backward," Izumi ordered. The teens fell into place around the catcher.

Abe's right hand latched onto the railing for dear life. He could see his years of built up karma and irony striking him now; after what had happened that morning it would only make sense. Instead the universe decided to leave him alone, at least for the time being, and the dark haired teen made it to the bottom of the stairs and into the living room without incident.

Once he saw that Abe was safely on the floor in the living room Mihashi took off to the kitchen. "There's chicken a-and stir f-fry f-from last night," Mihashi called from the other room. "Y-you guys can h-help yourself and I-I'll get yours, A-Abe-kun."

With the mention of food Abe found himself alone. It was a surprise to see Hamada along with his teammates. Abe did not know the cheer captain very well but he and his squad had done wonders for the team in their game against Tosei. And besides, Hamada was a very close friend to Mihashi now that the catcher recognized his friend and Abe wanted to have a good relationship with the older teen. If things went right for the baseball club in the near future then the cheer squad could become accepted enough to be able to travel with the club and cheer at all of their games. With the energy of the stands coupling with the new strength and speed of the team, in the spring tournament Nishiura could be a dominant force. With what Nishiura did in the summer tournament, beating Tosei and forfeiting to the C seed despite only being down by one, it would not surprise Abe if they were seeded or close to it.

"He-here you go, A-Abe-kun," Mihashi said handing him a plate stacked with stir fry and rice.

Abe eyed the two plates Mihashi had in his hands. One was stacked with meat, vegetables, and rice while the other had what looked like the remnants of the meal on it. Mihashi was offering the catcher the choice plate almost overflowing with food while saving the scraps for himself. "Thank you Mihashi, but I'm not that hungry. I'll take this one instead," Abe said, grabbing the smaller plate and leaving the choice plate for the pitcher. He was a growing boy and needed to eat as well.

Mihashi's eyes lit up. If there was one thing besides baseball that the smaller boy loved with all his heart and soul it was food. When Abe convinced Shinooka to make Mihashi an extra rice ball for their snack during practice the teen followed Abe around for the rest of the week acting like puppy. In truth Abe was concerned for the pitcher's weight and health but the satisfaction he got from the constant attention from the pitcher was a real ego boost.

The five friends ate and enjoyed each other's company while they ate. Despite being hungry Abe did not finish his portion, his stomach was acting up and he did not want to have to rush to the bathroom in his state. Tajima picked up the slack by finishing his heaping plate, the half of Abe's that he did not eat, and another double serving of the random dishes in the Mihashi fridge. Mihashi was not far behind in the race for food keeping up with Tajima plate for plate while Izumi and Hamada finished their respectable portions.

A small clock on top of the TV chimed signaling to the group that it was time to head back to school. Abe bid them all farewell and thanked them for coming to visit. Once they left he found his way back to the living room and then to the kitchen. There were dishes left in the sink from lunch and Abe felt obligated to wash them, anything to help out in attempt to make up for the hospitality that the Mihashis had shown him.

Once finished with the kitchen the catcher decided to go about the house cleaning up what he could. Because he was still a little woozy and because he did not want to go digging around his friend's house Abe busied himself with only light housework. He dusted the majority of the rooms excluding the bedrooms, straightened up various messes all over the house, and ended up in Ren Mihashi's room.

Abe did not notice before but the room was a mess, an absolute catastrophe. The desk was covered in books and papers as well as dust while the floor had clothes and magazines and a wide assortment of odds and ends scattered turning the wood floor into a minefield of debris. The catcher was beside himself on where to start so he decided that since he could not enter the room without stepping on some sort of article of clothing to gather all of it up and pile it near the door. By making piles of everything Abe found that it was easier to process the mounds and leave it for the pitcher to sort out when he got home.

Little by little the wood floor became visible and soon Abe was left with only the scattered magazines and mangas of every genre to take care of. From one corner of the room to the other Abe managed to get everything sorted until he reached the bed. There was a halo of modern literature ringing the bed spare one gap in the side closest to the door. Abe was surprised to see that the astronomical arrangement of paper was three layers deep in spots under the bed. As he cleaned Abe sub-sorted the literature into two stacks, one of periodical magazines and the other of manga. It was not until Abe found a small cardboard box labeled 'From Tajima' that he actually looked at the literature around him. In the box was a multitude of doujinshi, but not just any doujinshi. The box was not very big but how Mihashi got all of those hentai doujinshi to fit in was a mystery.

'Wait a minute,' Abe thought. 'There's a box full of hentai doujinshi labeled "From Tajima" in a box under Mihashi's bed. Why would Tajima have hentai doujinshis?'

Once the room was cleaned up and the contents put into piles, spare the doujinshi which was stored safely back under the bead, Abe felt he was finished. The cleaning he had done tired the catcher out and after a quick trip to the bathroom to wash up he was back to the pitcher's room where he fell back asleep.

A rather audible gasp woke the sleeping boy. "A-Abe-kun did y-you do this?"

The pitcher was standing in the doorway looking surprised at the rather clean room. "Yeah, I hope you don't mind," Abe said. "The room was a little dirty so I, well, organized it a little. Everything is in one of those piles." Abe gestured to the piles clothes, do-dads, and the stacks of magazines and manga. "I didn't know what you wanted to happen to those so I just sorted it out for ya."

Mihashi's eyes seemed to double in size but Abe knew it was just the boy's self defense mechanism or whatever the purpose was. Abe smiled back at his friend but the longer he looked at the dirty blond teen the further he was lost into the amazingly deep and sparkly eyes shining before him. Abe kept trying to see further and further into the abyss that was Mihashi's pupils and irises.

The thud of Mihashi's book bag snapped Abe out of the spell. He could hardly believe that for the second time today he lost himself in Mihashi's eyes. "Uh, um, so…" Abe said trying to mask the obvious fact that he was staring passionately into his friend's eyes. "So Mihashi, um," Abe still could not think of anything to say. Instead the only thing that he could think of was the hentai doujinshi. "Mihashi, did Tajima give you all of those doujinshi in that box," Abe said before he could think of what he was saying.

The pitcher stiffened then fidgeted like he never fidgeted before. Abe watched as he squirmed, twisted, and sweat from the simple question. "Um, ah, A-Abe-kun saw th-that?"

This was almost unbearable. Abe wanted to tell Mihashi that it was alright and he did not have to respond, but he was curious at what he pitcher would say. Abe really wanted to know why Mihashi had straight porn from Tajima of all people. So instead he said nothing.

"Ta-Tajima-kun gave that t-to me a wh-while ago and and and," tears were streaming from his eyes. "And I o-opened it and sa-saw what it was and and its b-been under my b-bed since."

"Mihashi, don't cry it's fine," Abe said as he got up and walked over to the pitcher. He put his hand on the smaller teen's shoulder to try to lessen the tension. "I was just curious, it doesn't matter." Mihashi looked up at the catcher, eyes wide open. Abe fought the urge to fall into the abyss again, looking anywhere but into Mihashi's eyes. I tell you what; you have a test coming up in math right? I'll help you study."

To Abe's surprise the offer worked. Mihashi stopped crying and book bag in hand sat down at the now clean desk.

For the next hour Abe sat beside his friend and helped him with the difficult algebra his teacher had assigned. It unnerved Abe a little to have Mihashi constantly twitching his eyes over to Abe and then back on his work. Abe got a weird vibe from his friend but since the only vibes Mihashi gave off were weird he let it pass. What he did want to do though was smack the pitcher for not focusing on the schoolwork that he desperately needed to understand but the smaller teen was doing a fine job with the assigned problems only asking Abe to explain the difficult concepts. It looked to Abe as if Mihashi was actually not only understanding the problems but he was actually proficient in them as well. Even the complex multi-step multi-hellish bonus problem at the end was completed with minimal input from Abe.

"Good job Mihashi," Abe said once the what looked like a novel's worth of homework pages was completed. Abe ruffled Mihashi's hair in congratulations, noting how the pitcher melted slightly into Abe's touch. 'This is natural,' Abe told himself. 'He looks up to me, it's no big deal.'

"Ah Ren that's where you are," Mrs. Mihashi said from the doorway. "And Abe-kun, are you feeling better?"

"Yes, thank you very much for your kindness, Mihashi-san." Abe gave her a deep bow.

The elder Mihashi blushed. "Thank you for cleaning up. You don't know how surprised I was to come home to a clean house." Her eyes started to get big as she looked around her son's room. "Oh my, did you clean Ren's room as well? I know it wasn't him because he hates to clean and never does it."

"M-mom you don't ha-have to tell hi-him that!" The smaller teen groaned.

After laughing to himself at his friend's reaction Abe said, "It's no problem. After lunch I was feeling a lot better and a little energetic so I decided to clean things up a little."

Once Mihashi-san left the teens went back to homework. Abe was impressed at how much of it Mihashi was able to do himself. Abe remembered back to when they were still in season having to personally tutor Mihashi in the school's library during most lunches and almost all of their breaks. Now the pitcher hardly needed Abe's help at all and when he did it was for the material so complex that even Abe did not understand half of it.

It was late by the time the boys finished with the homework. Mrs. Mihashi had brought the two some supper while they continued to work on Mihashi-kun's homework and soon the sky outside of the window was black and Abe felt it was time he should head home. He thanked his friend and the elder Mihashi for their hospitality and the catcher walked back to his house.

The elder Abe was in the living room when Takaya got home. "How are you feeling, son?" He asked.

"I'm still a bit lightheaded but I'll be fine," Abe replied. "The Mihashi's took great care of me."

"Their son is the pitcher right? He's a pretty good pitcher; that is with you backing him up."

Takaya quickly reminisced the season. "I don't know, dad. I might call the pitches but he hasn't missed a pitch yet. He has put in so much effort and divided the strike zone into nine sections."

"Well either way after the amazing win against Tosei he must be quite the lady's man at school."

Takaya laughed to himself. It could not be more from the truth. "No, not Mihashi; although I'm sure there are probably a few girls in his class that might like him. The baseball team is starting to get noticed." He remembered hearing the whispers in the hall and over hearing 'baseball' more than once from various gaggles of girls.

"Well when are you going to find a girl?" Takaya's father asked.

If Takaya did not know better he would assume his father had as little tact as Tajima. "I don't know," he said gruffly. This was not a conversation he liked to have with his parents. "I just haven't found anyone I like yet."

"You don't have to like a girl to go out with her."

Takaya could not believe his ears. "I'm going upstairs," he said trying to end the conversation.

"You are interested in girls, aren't you son?" The elder Abe asked from the living room.

Takaya had his foot on the stairs when he froze. The question was never one that he had to wrestle with. It was confusing but the catcher knew that the longer he stayed silent the worse things would become. Taking the conversation in stride he yelled back "I can't believe you are even asking that." He loudly stomped his way upstairs making sure his father heard him leave and effectively killed the conversation.

When he finally reached the safety of his room Abe closed the door and flopped down on his bed. 'I can't believe he asked that,' Abe thought to himself. He felt betrayed and insulted by his father's question but yet somehow he found himself asking the same thing. He had managed to conquer his urges since entering puberty and after a frightful year of being randomly horny Abe managed to put the entire question out of his mind.

The analytical young catcher folded his arms behind his head and went over his history since entering puberty. When he was thirteen he started to notice people around him. After being constantly horny he was able to suppress his urges. By this time he was well into the hell that was the seniors and started shutting people out. He devoted every spare moment to getting better at baseball to help his pitcher and everyone else in Abe's life took a back seat to practice. Soon the few friends he had left him alone and people stopped approaching him at school. Before Abe realized that baseball had consumed his life and stripped him of his friends it was too late and the catcher found himself completely alone, hated by his pitcher, resented by the rest of the team, and ignored at school.

Abe never found out the reason why nobody spoke to him, nobody asked him to hang out. He never asked anyone for help because his pride would not allow him, and he just never needed it. Slowly he found himself to be an outcast and came up with the reason: he was not meant to have friends. It was obvious to the catcher when he came to the conclusion; he had a cold and prickly personality, he was quiet and kept to himself, and he could never think of a reason to talk to someone about something that did not involve baseball.

Once he reached the final year of junior high and the last year in the seniors Abe came to realize that he did not matter to other people and they did not matter to him. Everyone else in school became a body to Abe; sure some looked better than others but if he could not even make friends how was he supposed to find a girlfriend?

Things were a little different for Abe now that he was at Nishiura but all of his friends still revolved around the baseball club. His only friends were either on the team, on the cheer squad, or Shinooka the manager. The only shot he had was either with someone on the team, the cheer squad, or with Shinooka.

The more the catcher thought about his prospects the more he became depressed. Tajima had flattered him with his confession of love but Abe did not feel the same way. It was not that he could not feel the same way, but he just simply did not. Abe never considered himself gay or straight or bisexual but simply without the ability to love. To Abe it was not whether or not the person was female or male, but instead the bond the two shared was strong and since Abe was not able to form those bonds he decided to take himself out of the human reproductive pool. He was not heterosexual or homosexual but instead Abe thought of himself as nonsexual. And besides, Shun was still there to pass on the Abe lineage.

These thoughts flowed through Abe's head as he lay on his back. What started out as a nice conversation with his father turned into a though provoking situation more awkward than any he wanted to share with his father. There was no way he could tell the man that Takaya was simply choosing not to pass on the Abe genes and name. Instead Takaya had to hope that his mother and father accepted his choice of celibacy.

Abe sat up. Since he had analyzed and recapped the perplexing question his mind was now free to get on with what really needed to be done: homework. The test that Abe missed had to be made up and there were the worksheets that were assigned in history on Monday that the catcher was planning on doing before school this past morning or during free period. Instead since the next day was Wednesday the team had running scheduled before and after school. Abe was not sure whether he would participate in the club's practices tomorrow but he wanted to be there at the very least cheering on his team and helping them as much as he could.

After two more hours of studying and homework Abe decided to call it a day. He had been up for over sixteen hours, not including the nap he took, had gotten a concussion, and had a cold to boot. After such a busy day he decided he had earned the rest and soon after his head hit the pillow the catcher was asleep.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Early the next morning Abe work up to the intense blaring of his alarm. The beeping started to resonate in his head amplifying the already painful headache he had from the concussion. There was no hitting the snooze button for Abe this morning so he decided to roll out of bed. The mixture of sleep and haze made the catcher woozy as he went through his morning routine without much thought.

It was not until the cool morning air reached Abe's face when he stepped outside that he finally woke up. As he walked to school he ran through the list of authors, poets, and their works that he had attempted to memorize throughout the previous week. Abe met up with most of the team at the CD shop and after a quick greeting with little explanation about the massive bruised and swollen lump on his head Abe moved to the back of the pack with the quieter members of the baseball team. He could not afford to joke and talk, not with his big literature test still looming over his head so instead the catcher matched names with dates with titles while following the pack.

A hand on his shoulder made Abe look up. Hanai had dropped back to the rear of the pack. The captain had a concerned look on hi face. "I heard from Izumi about what happened yesterday. How are you feeling?"

Abe smiled at his friend. "I'm better; still a little foggy and my head hurts a bit but once I make up the literature test I think I'll be all right."

"Oh yeah, you missed that yesterday didn't you?"

"Yeah," Abe responded.

Hanai picked up on the concern in his friend's voice. "Don't worry Abe. The test was not as tough as Okazaki-sensei made it sound. You'll do fine." After eying the catcher wearily he added "hell, even Kei-kun was boasting about acing the test."

Abe gave the right fielder a big smile and thanked his friend. "If Kei-kun was saying that then I've got this in the bag."

"Hey Hanai what exactly is on the test? Is it a mix of poets and authors or is it just authors and their work?"

"Just authors, their work, and a few dates. I don't remember who all was on it but if you memorized numbers 1-15 on the worksheet then you'll be fine."

"Thanks Hanai."

"No problem," the captain replied.

In no time the team reached the school. The team went to the locker room to store their stuff while Abe split from the group and made his way toward the teacher's room. Okazaki-sensei was seated at her desk when Abe entered. He had never been to the teacher's room; he never had a reason to visit while he was at Nishiura. He was surprised at the vast amount of, well, stuff in the room. It looked a lot like a very cramped office with each teacher having their own cubicle cluttered with papers and books and other miscellaneous school-related, and sometimes not related, materials. At the moment the room was almost completely empty except for a few rogue teachers, including Abe's target.

Abe felt a bit weird being in this place but he had a mission and needed to get it done. He walked over to the tall dark haired Sensei and greeted the honored educator. "Um, good morning Okazaki-sensei," Takaya Abe said as he bowed.

The dark haired teacher turned to look at where the voice had come from. Upon seeing Abe she smiled. "Oh, Abe-kun, good morning. Is there something I can help you with?" She asked.

Abe was glad this was not as awkward as he feared it would be. "Um, yeah actually. I was injured yesterday and had to be absent and I still need to take the test. Is there any time you are free that I could meet you to make up the test?"

"I have a copy of the test right here if you would like to take it now; or else we could wait until lunch and you could meet me here."

"Now is fine," Abe said, "I believe I have everything memorized so it shouldn't take me too long."

"Alright," Okazaki-sensei said as she gave her student a pleasant smile. "Maxwell-san is not here yet and I do not think he will mind if you use his desk for the time being," she said as she gestured to the workspace next to hers that seemed to be a level three disaster area with what had to be kilo for kilo more paper than desk.

Abe thanked his teacher and sat next to her. He shuffled the swarm of papers lying on the desk until he had flat surface to work on.

'Hanai was right' Abe thought after finishing the test, 'it was easy; I don't know what I was so worried about.' The test had taken the catcher just over fifteen minutes to complete and once done he could feel the weight lifted from his shoulders. He was relieved and it showed.

"Finished I see. That was pretty quick," a voice said next to him.

"I had most of them memorized. I spent a few hours yesterday and a good chunk of the night the night before that studying for this. I thought we were going to have to know the poets and their works and dates as well. I'm relieved that it was only the authors ma'am," Abe replied to the teacher.

After handing the paper he watched her eyes move from the paper to his face and then to the unsightly and discolored lump on Abe's forehead. "If I may," she said, "what happened to your head? Is that the injury you mentioned earlier?"

Abe grinned sheepishly. "Yeah," he said. "Yesterday morning I was practicing with Ren Mihashi, the pitcher for the baseball club, and I guess I was getting sick because before I realized it one of his pitches hit me in the head and gave me a concussion. I'm a lot better now but at the time I was knocked unconscious."

"Oh my," Okazaki-sensei gasped.

"I'm fine now ma'am but it was just a bit embarrassing."

"Well I am glad you are all right. I will see you in a half an hour in class." The finality in her voice told Abe that no disrespect was implied but she needed to return to her work.

"Thank you ma'am," he said while bowing and left the room.

The bell signaling the end of the fourth period and the beginning of lunch rang waking Abe from his nap. Abe silently thanked the fact that he had a good relationship with his history teacher and she allowed him to sleep. Abe could not remember the last time he had actually slept in class and was surprised he had now; after taking a long nap the day before and sleeping so soundly that night he hardly felt tired at all during his previous classes. Now it was time for lunch and Abe being fully awake wanted to hang out with the team. He felt a little guilty that he had not given the team any sort of explanation of what happened, although he knew word had gotten around, and he felt bad about missing school the day before as well as morning conditioning and he wanted to make up for it with a little face time to hopefully smooth over any rumors that might be floating around.

The team was gathered in the year 1 class 9 classroom. The classmates of Mihashi, Tajima, Izumi, and Hamada were use to the baseball team gathering and were friendly to the club even if most of the members were in different classes. Abe greeted a few of the students in class 9 that he knew and went over to join the team, who were gathered in the desks around Mihashi and Tajima's.

"A-Abe-kun!" Mihashi greeted the catcher as he made his way over to the group.

Everyone else looked up and greeted the catcher in their own unique ways. Most of the team inquired about Abe's wellbeing and/or the large lump on his forehead while Tajima ran over and slapped Abe on the back with more force than Abe expected. "Careful," joked Hanai, "you don't want to hurt him; he bruises easily."

The team laughed at the catcher's expense. "Hey you try taking one of Mihashi's fastballs to the face. Look at this bruise and tell me it's nothing." Mihashi beamed with pride at Abe's comment. Abe saw this out of the corner of his eye and smiled.

Abe took the seat that Tajima had just vacated in the middle of the group next to Mihashi. Tajima pouted in Abe's direction and eventually took a seat on a nearby desk at the edge of the pack. Abe gestured for everyone to quiet down before he made his apology. "Anyway, guys, I wanted to apologize for not being at school yesterday and missing conditioning today. There's a chance that I'll be missing workouts for the rest of the week; or at least until my headaches go away. I would rather not put any unnecessary strain on myself and get healthy."

"That's a good idea," Suyama concurred. "It would be better for you to be healthy and miss a few workouts than if you were seriously injured because of something petty like forgetting to take your medicine."

The baseball team broke out in laughter. Even Mihashi laughed at the joke.

As the laughter died down from not only the baseball team but also some of the other people in the class who had befriended the baseball club Abe got serious. "But Mihashi," he said matching his tone to the point he wanted to make, "even if I do feel better by the end of the week we're going to cancel all of our pitching practices for the week. Think of it as a vacation."

Mihashi's eyes got big. 'Fight it Takaya, damn it, fight it!' Abe said to himself as he tried to fend off the spell Mihashi was casting on him.

Success.

"B-but A-Abe-kun, I could th-throw with someone else," Mihashi said.

"Leave it to me, the reserve catcher!" Tajima yelled out.

Abe shook his head at the third baseman. "Sorry, Tajima. I don't doubt that you two could throw, but you don't have enough experience catching Mihashi's pitches to know if something is off." He returned his gaze back at Mihashi making sure to stay away from the large orbs Mihashi called his eyes. "Will you promise me, Mihashi?"

The blond teen was fidgeting in his chair. Abe turned his gruff face that he normally used when dealing with Mihashi into his hurt and pleading face. He made eye contact with the pitcher and tried to will himself into the other pitcher's mind. 'Come on, Mihashi,' he thought.

"Um, um, couldn't I j-just pitch a little bit? I'll make sure to stop if anything feels funny," the pitcher pleaded.

"Please Mihashi, for me? I really don't want to have to worry about you hurting yourself. Please?" Abe hated to beg but he really had no choice in the matter. Once he had everything he wanted to say out Abe locked eyes with Mihashi and fell in.

Everyone was astonished. This was the first time they had ever heard anything like that come from Abe. Mihashi himself was shocked to hear the normally rough catcher ask and then actually beg the pitcher not to do something instead of ordering him not to. "Mmm," Mihashi grunted. "Al-alright A-Abe-kun. I promise."

A stunned silence ensued. Oki finally broke the silence. "Um, well, that was a bit wa'awkward," He said.

"Huh?" A few of the teammates asked in unison?

Oki blushed. "You know, wa'awkward." He looked around at the still confused faces staring back at him. "Way awkward. Wa'awkward? For those times that are just too awkward to describe?"

"You mean turtle moments," Nishihiro chimed in.

Everyone looked at the boy genius like he was insane.

"Like this," Nishihiro said feeling their confusion. He put his fingers together like he had mittens on and placed one on top of the other; making a figure like a turtle without front legs and using his thumbs as hind legs. "You know, the awkward turtle."

A few of the members of the group laughed in recognition of the sign.

"That's kinda random," Hanai said with his tough-guy attitude overflowing and an eyebrow raised. He was curious to know where these guys came up with half of the shenanigans that they knew. Nishihiro in particular was too smart for his own good.

Nishihiro put the heels of his palms together and bent his fingers at the middle knuckle and tapped his knuckles together, the sign resembling a clam shell opening and closing over and over. "That's when you bust out the random clam."

Again the team looked at Nishihiro with confusion. He was just too much.

"Anyway," Sakaeguchi said trying to change the topic of conversation.

"Did you just 'anyway' me?" Nishihiro said in fake surprise.

Sakaeguchi shot him a smile and continued "yeah I did. You're too smart, go read another book."

"Just because I actually read books for fun doesn't mean you have to make fun of me for it," Nishihiro shot back.

"Yeah that's right!" Tajima exclaimed.

Oki grinned. "I wouldn't be talking if I were you, Tajima. I'm surprised you know how to read."

It was a particularly harsh comment and if it came from anyone who was not in the baseball club the third baseman would have gotten upset. Instead he played along. "Me is too know how read!"

The group broke out in roaring laughter again.

Abe leaned back and listened to the team bicker and joke with each other. He had lost interest with the conversation just after hand animals were brought in. Instead he had his eye on Mihashi who had been silent since making the promise. He was looking at his feet nervously like he had just done something he should not have. Abe wanted to talk to the pitcher but his head was starting to hurt and he could not think of anything to say so instead he pretended to listen to the group while he watched his friend.

Lunch ended and what seemed like only minutes after that school was out. Abe waited around and did homework while the team worked out. He was sitting on the floor in the hallway outside of the gym when the sound of footsteps echoing in the deserted hallway caught his attention. Shinooka was joined by two other girls Abe assumed were her friends and the trio was talking toward the seated teen. Abe kept his head down but watched the three girls move closer to him.

They walked up to him and encircled the catcher. "Abe-kun, how is your head?" Shinooka asked.

Abe put down the book he was reading and looked up; acting surprised to see the manager. He smiled at the three. "Hello Shinooka-chan, friends," Abe nodded and smiled to the girls on either side of Shinooka. "My head's feeling better today. I never would have guessed one of Mihashi's pitches could do something like this. How are you doing?"

"What happened to your head?" The shorter black haired girl on Shinooka's left spoke up. She blushed after she realized what she blurted out. "I'm sorry," she said. "I haven't introduced myself. I'm Hikari Sakura; I'm a friend and classmate of Shinooka's."

"And I'm Aizawa Mai," the rather busty brown haired girl on Shinooka's right offered. "Nice to meet you, Abe-kun."

Despite being taken aback Abe looked at the girls and smiled. "Nice to meet you. I'm Abe Takaya," Abe said as he bowed his head to the girls.

The three joined Abe on the floor, much to Abe's dismay. He could feel something odd in the mood around him and he felt a little tense. "So Abe-kun, what happened? How did you hurt your head?" Aizawa asked. Abe noticed she was leaning in close.

He laughed and bowed his head. When he looked up the smile he had been wearing was replaced with a fake pleasant one. None of the girls noticed. "Yesterday morning I was with the baseball club's pitcher Mihashi practicing and one of his pitches hit me."

"Oh my that bruise looks terrible. I'm glad you're alright," the busty brunette responded. She batted her eyelashes at Abe before gazing into his eyes. "So you are the catcher for the baseball club? Is it true that the club is made up of entirely first years and you guys bet last year's champion in your first game?"

Abe shot Shinooka a subtle glance saying 'are you serious?' to her before he responded. "Yes. As a team we've gone a long way with only ten first years and managed to defeat some pretty tough schools."

Her eyes grew large as she kept eye contact with Abe. 'Nice try, you've still got years before you are on Mihashi's level. Wait what?' Abe confused himself with his thoughts.

"Abe-kun you're amazing!" Aizawa exclaimed.

"Thank you, Aizawa-san," Abe replied. He hoped she would understand what he was trying to get across.

"You're girlfriend must be really lucky, Abe-kun!" She squealed, oblivious to what Abe was trying to tell her.

He was starting to get annoyed now. "Right now I don't have a girlfriend, Aizawa-_san_." The catcher stressed the honorific hoping she would notice.

The smile on the busty teen's face widened making the lone boy grow weary. "Really? I never would have guessed." She sunk her head but all too suddenly shot it back up and locked her green eyes with Abe's hazel. "Hey, I know; I won a couple of tickets to the new amusement park on the other side of town. Do you wanna go with me this weekend?"

Abe cursed himself. He should have seen the trap coming a mile away. "I, um, well…" He really did not want to go but could not think of a good excuse.

"Abe-kun, don't you have practice on Saturday?" Shinooka interjected.

"That's right, I wont be in much of a mood the rest of the week while I recover and I have conditioning on Saturday and Sunday I have pitching practice with Mihashi. Sorry Aizawa-san."

The brunette on Abe's left changed her overbearing grin into a pleasant smile. Abe had the feeling that this was not over. "I see," she said, "well then next time." Aizawa got up and started to walk away. "See ya later, Abe-kun!" She called over her shoulder. Ichinose got up and ran over to her friend as she walked away.

"Aren't you going with them, Shinooka-chan?" Abe asked. Despite his best effort he could not hide all of the disdain that was in his voice.

Shinooka looked hurt. "I'm sorry," she apologized. "Mai said she had to meet you. I didn't expect her to do something like this."

A genuine smile crossed Abe's face. "I don't know how you do it Shinooka-chan, but you seem to have a habit of introducing me to people who have a crush on me."

"Is that a bad thing?" She asked.

The smile on Abe's face faltered. "Um, well, no," he mumbled.

"Maybe you need to start liking some of them?"

"Ha ha Shinooka-chan. Maybe if you brought the right person…" Abe trailed off, not wanting to finish his sentence.

"Alright, fine. Tell me who you want me to bring you and I will see what I can do," Shinooka said with a more playful tone.

Abe heard the upbeat tone in her voice but he did not want to play around. "Well there are a few people I admire," Abe thought about the precious few people he was willing to have a relationship with. Only two came to mind and he was positive that it was completely hopeless.

"Well have you told them how you feel? I'm sure that if you tell them they would be happy to date you. You may not know it but there's actually quite a few girls who have feelings for you. I think you should go for it."

Her words shook Abe more than he was comfortable with. "Na, I couldn't do that to them. Things would just end badly."

Shinooka sensed something was wrong. A moment ago Abe was happy; it was a fake happiness but it was happiness none the less. And since the subject of relationships came up everything became instantly sad. "Abe-kun, what's wrong? You said the same sort of stuff when Tajima-kun confessed. Is there anything you want to talk about?"

In reality Abe did not want to share anything. The more people he let into his personal life the more friends he would lose. He knew all this yet he felt he had to tell someone. Something was happening to him and Abe could not tell what it was. "I, well, um," Abe was having a hard time expressing himself. "Well, you know, I'm not exactly boyfriend material. I only end up hurting those who get close to me. I don't want anything to happen that will interfere with the baseball club. It's bad enough that I'm friends with them."

"Abe-kun what do you mean?" Shinooka asked.

"I'm not exactly a friendly person. In fact almost everything about me keeps people away; and that's for a reason. If people get close to me they only get hurt. I learned long ago that if I make friends I always end up hurting them so in order to stop that I stopped making friends. I don't even want to think about how _this_ is going to blow up in my face."

Shinooka looked horrified. "You gotta be kidding me, Abe-kun. What ever could make you think that? You're a good guy who would never hurt anyone."

"Try telling that to my cousin Yusuke. He and I were best friends, closer than that. He meant the world to me and yet I killed him." Abe was fighting to hold back the tears that Yusuke's memory invoked.

"You don't mean that. I'm sure you're mistaken," Shinooka was taken aback at how pitiful her excuses were; but still she hoped.

Abe locked his eyes with hers. "If you saw the note he left me you would understand." Tears started to leak from Abe's eyes. "I, I can't get involved with other people. If I isolate myself from everyone else then I can't hurt them. That's why I put up this act."

Shinooka had to say something; anything to make Abe feel better. She could not stand to see Abe like this but she could not think of anything that would lighten the mood.

Instead the scuffle of feet took control of the conversation. Mihashi was standing before them and was looking quizzically at the pair. "A-Abe-kun are you a-alright?" The pitcher asked.

Abe sniffed a couple of times shook his head. "Yeah, I'm fine. My allergies are giving me a little trouble but I'm fine." Abe looked up and gave the pitcher a big smile. "Grab your stuff from your locker, Mihashi. I'll meet you at the entrance."

Mihashi nodded his head and awkwardly ran off to the locker room.

He looked over at Shinooka still smiling. "Not a day goes by that I don't think about him."

If it were not for the conversation that the two had just had Shinooka would not believe that Abe carried such a massive scar. "Abe-kun, how can you…"

"Shinooka-chan, I'm the best actor you've ever met." Abe gathered his belongings and stood. He was about to walk off but instead turned to the female manager. "Shinooka-chan," he said, "thanks for listening. But please don't tell anyone about this, not even Tajima. There's still some things I need to sort out in my head."

"I promise," she said.

The two bid each other goodbye and Abe made his way to the front entrance to wait for Mihashi. He was still a bit upset at having to remember his cousin but he felt somewhat better having shared what happened. If things worked out the way he had planned then Shinooka would keep quiet while the rest of the team stayed in the dark. He didn't want any sort of rumor or anything going around that would affect the baseball club.

The same scuffling feet shook Abe from his memories. Mihashi had arrived and he looked to be deep in thought, which was not natural for the pitcher but Abe decided to let it slide. It surprised Abe that only the two of them were walking home today. Normally Tajima at the very least joined the duo. The silence was golden so Abe enjoyed walking with his pitcher without talking. All of the memories of his cousin vanished as they walked and as much as Abe did not want it the pair had arrived at the CD shop. Abe turned to Mihashi who had the same deep thought look on his face as when they met up at the school's entrance. "Is everything alright Mihashi?" Abe asked his friend.

The pitcher stood silently for a moment before looking up. "Um, A-Abe-kun I don't th-think you're a b-bad person," he finally sputtered.

Abe racked his brain to think of what the pitcher was talking about. The last time he mentioned this to Mihashi was the day after the pitcher collapsed. What would make the pitcher say that now?

The world was spinning around Abe. There was only one possibility for why Mihashi was acting like this. Abe lowered his head, his voice changing from the upbeat tone he was talking in into a serious one. "Mihashi, how much did you hear."

"I-I, well," the pitcher fumbled his words. He was squirming uncontrollably.

"Mihashi; please," Abe growled, the anger and pain resonated in his voice.

The pitcher stopped squirming and stopped moving altogether. "I heard about your cousin." Abe recognized the voice Mihashi had used. He had heard it only once before.

The taller teen was way more upset than he wanted to let on. "Mihashi if you heard that much then you…" Abe gasped trying to finish his sentence. "Then you…" he tried again but to no result. His chest started to tighten up. Abe knew this feeling too well and cursed his body for having a panic attack in the middle of public and most of all in front of Mihashi.

Abe clutched his shirt and twisted it between his hands. The viselike pressure on Abe's chest clasped off his lungs and made it hard to breath. He was breathing in short gasps and he could feel his legs start to wobble and give out. As the catcher lost his balance he was caught by arms that seemed strong enough to hold up the world. Abe could not open his eyes to see who was helping him but soon enough he felt his arm slip over a pair of shoulders and he was guided to a side street near the CD store and then down onto a bench. The pain surrounding Abe's chest and lungs was paralyzing him and he was sweating profusely. He tried calming himself down mentally but his brain had the picture of his cousin locked in for the long run.

"Abe-kun!"

Abe heard something off in the distance. It was barely recognizable but it sounded familiar.

"Abe-kun!"

'There it is again,' the voice in his head said. 'I think someone's calling my name.'

"Abe-kun!"

This time Abe was sure he heard his name being called. He focused all he could muster and opened his eyes as much as he could. A familiar blond haired face was looking at the catcher. The last time Abe had seen this face was before their first practice game against Mihoshi. True and utter terror the likes of which Abe had never wanted to see again was staring up at the taller teen. Abe was too ashamed in his weakened state to look at his friend so he tried to avert his eyes. Instead they passed over the traps Mihashi used to see through and Abe was sucked in. The picture of his cousin vanished from Abe's mind and instead he saw his pitiful self in his friend's eyes; he was a sweating and his face was scarlet and contorted in pain.

The pitcher looked into the hazel eyes staring up at him. "What's wrong Abe-kun?"

Abe, who was still fighting a desperate battle with his body, was failing to keep eye contact with his friend because his head would not hold still. The situation in his chest was growing desperate and he wanted with all he had to curl up into a ball and cry.

That was until two stern hands touched Abe's bobbing head. Mihashi had steadied Abe's face directly at eye level and was trying to keep the taller teen focused on the pitcher. It worked but not the way Mihashi had expected. When Abe registered that Mihashi had Abe's cheeks in his hands the catcher's mind blanked and rebooted, this time with Mihashi's gentle but callused hands as the only things in Abe's universe. As his mind began to process more and more everything melted away except for the feeling of rough skin softly touching his cheeks. Abe was in Zen; he felt the rapture and the planets aligned for him. All of his pain and sadness and despair faded away until the only feeling he had left was Ren Mihashi.

The moment passed and Abe's mind was processing in full force and flooded with thoughts. The first thing he tried to do was figure out what the new feeling he had was. He had never in his life felt as happy or safe or peaceful as he had when Mihashi held his face. The catcher racked his brain trying to link his feelings to something he could describe. Unfortunately the only thing he could link it to were the lyrics from the old love songs his parents listened to. 'Maybe that's what this is,' Abe could not help but think. A smile escaped across Abe's lips. 'Maybe the boy who doesn't believe in love, has just fallen in love.'

Unfortunately that was far from the only thought in Abe's mind. Once he realized that he was in love with one of the only two people he had ever known that he felt truly close to the dark side of Abe's mind took over with thoughts of how he was now going to hurt the pitcher. The voice inside of Abe's head had a point. 'Just because you love him does not mean that he loves you.' The voice was right; he would surely drive his newfound love from his life.

With both the joys of love and the pain of loss making their respective cases in Abe's mind, the entity that was the catcher was able to retake his body. "Mi…ha…shi," Abe managed.

"A-Abe-kun! W-what's wr-wrong are you a-alright are you hurt w-what's going on?" The pitcher rushed.

Abe, who still had the epic battle of pleasure and pain raging in his head decided that since he could not think he would trust his impulses and acted on semi-instinct. Without saying a word he snaked his arms around Mihashi and pulled the smaller teen into a tight hug. "I'm better now, thanks," he whispered.

"Wha, what happened, A-Abe-kun?" The pitcher asked again.

"I was having a panic attack but I'm feeling better now. I think I have things under control. Thank you, Mihashi."

Mihashi pulled away from the catcher's arms enough to look him in the eye. "I-if you ever, th-that is if A-Abe-kun w-wants to talk ab-bout anything I hope you w-will tell me."

"Mmm," Abe grunted in agreement. He never wanted to be away from Mihashi again in his life.

Mihashi joined Abe on the bench and the two talked for the next two hours. The conversation covered many topics all of which were inconsequential; instead Abe was just happy to be with Mihashi even if the smaller teen had no idea how Abe felt about him. The topic of love was carefully avoided by Abe; he did not want to worry about anything like that while the pair talked. There was no way that Mihashi was gay and even less of a chance that Mihashi would fall in love with a guy like Abe. Instead Abe spent most of the time telling Mihashi about his past and most of the dark secrets he was hiding. Much to Abe's enjoyment the pitcher kept his catcher's spirits high and comforted the taller teen in the weird way only Mihashi could.

While he was talking to his friend something occurred to Abe. He had never thought of himself as 'gay'. He hardly ever fantasized about people and rarely masturbated. The last time he did masturbate he could not remember who he thought of or even their sex. Abe knew that his chance of pairing off with another human was slim to none so he never concerned himself with gender. If it was meant to be then he would be happy with anyone.

When the sun went down and the streetlights came on the pair went their separate ways. Once he was sure that Mihashi could no longer see Abe the catcher almost danced all the way back to his house. He was still upset about both reliving the memory of his deceased cousin as well as with the fact that his love for Mihashi would forever be one sided. That former had been resolved with the latter and Abe promised himself that night that while he would never be with Mihashi, he would always be behind the dirty blond teen supporting him with whatever the pitcher could. As he lay in bed waiting for sleep to over take him Abe thought about following Mihashi into university and then in life. Anything that Mihashi needed Abe wanted to make sure the pitcher got. Abe saw himself living in the same town as the pitcher and then fast forwarding to Abe babysitting Mihashi's kids; anything he could to help the pitcher out.

As sleep overtook Abe he promised to always be there for Mihashi, even if it cost Abe his life.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

Abe hated December with a burning passion unequalled to anything else in the entire world. The cold air made the joints of the catcher stiffen up and become sore. But there were two dates in December that the catcher hated in particular: the 11th and the 25th.

The situation with Mihashi had gotten a bit better as well. After his concussion Abe continued his throwing regiment with Mihashi. The pitcher was his usual self and Abe carefully kept his act up around everyone. He did feel better when he was around the pitcher, especially when they were alone, but Abe kept their alone time to a minimum. It would not surprise Abe if he broke down and tried something on the pitcher.

Another surprise for Abe was Shinooka. As far as the catcher could tell she kept her promise and didn't tell anyone. The manager now made a point to join the team most days while they ate lunch. At first it was only the manager but soon after she was joined her two friends Aizawa Mai and Hikari Sakura. It was a mixed blessing for Abe; the rest of the team was happy to have their popularity growing and the added female teens soothed the rowdy baseball players. Unfortunately for Abe, Aizawa zeroed in on him and openly flirt with the catcher. At first he was annoyed with her attempts to sit on his lap and always keep in physical contact with the dark haired player. It frazzled Abe at first but soon he just ignored her antics and pretended like she was not there most of the time. The only thing he changed was his preferred seat from the periphery of the pack to the middle surrounded by his teammates. Since they all gathered around Mihashi and Tajima's desks Abe made best use of his plans to both avoid the busty teen and be closer to Mihashi.

The November winds blew in the December snows and that royally pissed Abe off. The cold weather made Abe and Mihashi cut their pitching to shorter and shorter sessions for fear of Mihashi's arm and motion. The catcher could see a noticeable increase in the speed of the pitches and he could feel the force of the ball had increased since the summer tournament. Abe no longer had to make impressive sounds to make up for Mihashi's weak pitches. On more than one occasion the duo had a scare when Mihashi complained about stiffness and pain. It was not uncommon for Abe to finish off their workout by rubbing Mihashi's shoulders and arms. Abe never attempted to give Mihashi a massage, he knew that amateurs could damage muscles if they did something wrong. Besides it took all Abe had to keep their rubdown focused only on the smaller boy's shoulders and arms.

Abe knew the week would be terrible. It was Monday the seventh of December and the beginning of the school week but he already hated it. That morning he and Mihashi were throwing when the leather on Abe's mitt finally cracked and broke making his glove useless. Abe had had this glove for a very long time and it was only natural that while being stressed in the dry and cold air that it would crack, but it juts happened at a terrible time for the catcher. Abe called off the practice for the rest of the week and had Mihashi promise that he would do the same until the catcher had another mitt to use. It as the terrible start to what Abe felt would be a terrible week culminating in his birthday.

Takaya hated his birthday. Birthday celebrations were not big in the Abe household. When he was younger it bothered Takaya that everyone else in his class celebrated their birthday and got presents and cake and the likes while he got, well, nothing except for a card from his parents. It was just how things were. As he got older it bothered him less and less that he didn't get a party like everyone else but what got to him was how everyone else got a party. In Abe's opinion it was just another day, only this one marked the day that an individual was a year older, nothing of any real significance worth celebrating. Watching everyone else around him have parties and get gifts made the catcher resent his own birthday and he did everything he could to hide the fact that it was his birthday whenever it drew near.

The day had gotten worse when at lunch Shinooka brought up what Abe feared more than _almost_ everything: his birthday. They were all together in the year 1 class 9 classroom, the baseball team, manager, and random friends and classmates. Abe and Hanai were chatting when Shinooka remembered. "Oh Abe-kun, your birthday's on Friday right?"

A jolt of electricity surged up Abe's spine. Without a doubt the manager knew more facts about the members of the baseball club than anyone else and it was only natural that she knew all of their birthdays. It did surprise Abe that she had them all memorized.

He couldn't escape it. "Mmm," he grunted in affirmation and tried to go back to talking to Hanai like nothing had happened.

Epic failure.

"Abe-kun it's your birthday on Friday!" The banshee voice of Aizawa Mai called out inches from Abe's ear. All too late the catcher leaned away from the source of the migraine. His head rang from the shriek of the busty girl sitting uncomfortably close him. "Do you have any plans?"

This time Abe didn't have to lie to get out of a trap/date. "Yeah," he replied. "School, conditioning, homework, eat, homework, and sleep. Same thing I do every day."

"You're not celebrating your birthday?" Tajima asked.

This was becoming more of an issue that Abe wanted. He was use to the rest of the team making their plans when it was their birthdays but he didn't want anything to do with celebrating his. "I never do," Abe said with what he hoped was prominent enough finality telling the group to drop the subject.

If they noticed it didn't show. "Why not?" Oki asked.

"Yeah," a few others said in unison.

"It's only natural to celebrate your birthday," Oki continued.

Abe covered his face with his hands. "I don't see what the big deal is. It's just another day with no real significance worth getting worked up over."

Izumi's wicked smile caught Abe's eye. The catcher knew Izumi had some trick and was feeling uneasy. His suspicions were correct. "Well if you don't have any plans then we'll throw you a birthday party."

"No," Abe refused.

Of all people Sakaeguchi took the proposal and ran with it. "We celebrated everyone else's birthdays as a team, why should you be different?"

"I'm not and I don't want a celebration."

Sakaeguchi grinned making Abe feel like he had just walked into a trap. "I'm afraid that since it's a team function it's not up to you. As a team we have to vote on it, right captain?"

To Abe's dismay Hanai nodded his head in agreement.

"All in favor?"

Everyone raised their hands; including Tajima and Mihashi who had both hands raised as well as Aizawa and Hikari had their hands in the air.

"They're not even part of the team!" Abe protested gesturing at the two rogue women.

"All opposed?" Sakaeguchi continued, ignoring Abe's protest.

Abe shot his hand straight into the air.

"Looks like the party's on." Sakaeguchi waited for the cheering to die down before continuing. "So Abe since it's your party tell us what you want to do."

Abe shot a death glare at Sakaeguchi. He had one last chance. "Alright, I propose that we allow Abe to go about his day as if nothing was going on. Agreed?" The silence that followed killed the last card Abe had to play. "Fine then; since nobody else has an idea I guess we can't do anything."

The stupid grin on Sakaeguchi's face mocked Abe relentlessly. "Alright, since Abe doesn't want to plan how about," he paused for a moment to think. "Tajima-kun, Nishihiro-kun, Shinooka-chan, Aizawa-chan, and myself will come up with a plan."

Everyone agreed.

"Great," mumbled Abe. "First my glove and now this."

Hanai picked up on the grumbling of the catcher. "What happened to your mitt?" He asked.

Mihashi snapped his head in the biggest teen's direction and said "Abe-kun…broke it." Those who were able to hear grew quiet and leaned in, trying and failing at not being conspicuous as they eavesdropped.

"Mihashi and I were throwing outside and the cold must have caused to leather to crack and break around the back of the glove. Now it won't stay on my hand correctly and there's no way I can fix it," Abe elaborated.

"Ouch man," Hanai commented. "Catcher's mitts are kinda expensive. You don't have a part time job do you?"

The desperation of the situation started to slowly sink in on him. He had managed to get Mihashi to promise not to throw until Abe got a new glove. Abe was planning on waiting until he got his New Year's gift before he bought a new glove but that would mean canceling all of the throwing practices for almost an entire month. That was way too long to go without having Mihashi be able to keep his arm in shape and if Abe was unable to throw for so long then the pitcher might just start throwing by himself and get hurt.

"If you want to borrow my spare glove I can bring it tomorrow. I won't be needing it because I'm not even using my regular." Hanai offered. "It's a pitcher's mitt so it won't be good for catching but at the very least you two can play catch."

"Mmm, thanks," Abe said. At the very least the two could still throw. Abe could even crouch down and catch if he thought his hand could handle it. As grateful as he was towards the captain having a regular fielder's mitt was not the same as having his own catcher's mitt broken in the way he wanted. But if it meant he could start up pitching as well as his alone time with his secret crush then Abe was all for it.

An arm latched around Abe's shoulders and pulled the teen dangerously close to a rather large set of breasts shaking Abe from his thoughts. "Aaabee-kun!" The voice of a perky banshee called. "What's your favorite food?"

Abe pulled his head away from Aizawa's cleavage. He made sure not to show his annoyance at her antics because that would only encourage the overly flirtatious teen and show her that her actions were getting a response. "I'm not giving you guys any help," he said; his gruff tone battling with the upbeat atmosphere.

There was no stopping the spirited female. "Alright then!" She awkwardly cheered. "We'll make it a surprise party!" The arm Abe had just shrugged off landed back on his shoulders drawing the catcher further into the girl's body until he thought that he might actually be absorbed into the teen.

To Abe's dismay the rest of the group agreed. What had started off as an unwanted party became a big fiasco. The only good part about the new development was that now Abe didn't have to think about the party or worry about it; everything was out of his hands. This relief was short lived, however, as the anxiety of knowing he was going to be the guest of honor at a party he didn't want to be at or have any part of planning started to grow in the catcher's chest. Fearing a mild panic attack the catcher tried to divert his thoughts to other subjects.

All of Abe's thoughts were brought back to the catcher's chest however when the arm that was resting on his shoulder departed taking with it a hand that subliminally caressed its way up his chest. Abe had not realized it was there until delicate fingers stroked Abe's nipple and lingered for a moment before moving toward his shoulder and departing. He managed to wait until the owner of said arm and hand moved over to where the other planners for the 'party of doom' were before he shuddered at the fondling. It was not that he was repulsed by what Aizawa had done; on the contrary his body was turned on. Instead he was shocked at her audacity for doing that in such a public place.

The excited feeling Abe got from what he knew would be an easy score if he were interested stuck with him and intensified as the day wore on. It surprised him little that he thought that way about Aizawa. He was a, more or less, sixteen year old guy; better said a sixteen year old hormone soup with black hair. He had done a damn good job of controlling himself since he started getting the urges of adulthood and he enjoyed the physical contact with sexual overtones. He had been starving his body of any sort of 'more than friends' contact for what felt like eons so he allowed his body to enjoy the feeling. As the teachers lectured in his last two classes of the day the teen kept his hands above his desk but instead filled his mind with images and situations that invigorated his lower head and turned his nipples to diamonds.

It never occurred to the teen how sensitive his nipples were. He discovered this just after lunch when his shirt brushed against the rubies that were studded on his chest. Electricity surged from the nubs of flesh as the soft cotton of his undershirt brushed ever so gently over his chest. The rock hard member between Abe's legs twitched and throbbed with joy at the new discovery. Abe chocked in surprise and quickly masked it with a cough. He was so turned on by the combination of the new feeling and the dirty blond haired form helping Abe mentally that he had to calm himself or else he would have a very embarrassing mess he would have to explain away.

Abe knew that he had to stop himself before he got too carried away and much to his body's dismay his mind did just that. He had successfully calmed himself down in time to be composed and together during after school activities. With the team changing in the locker room together he wanted to avoid any unnecessary 'turtle moments' as Nishihiro put it, which would be particularly hard after having perverted images a certain dirty blond pitcher running around in his head. In order to solve this Abe made sure he was one of the first ones changed, making sure to keep his head down and focused on getting out of the cramped quarters as fast as he could.

After the workout was a different story. Abe, like most of the other boys, waited until they got home to shower since their conditioning sessions lasted less than three hours. The catcher took his time after their run. The musty smell of young athletes hung think in the air of the changing room and Abe used this to his advantage. After making sure his pants were on the teen pretended to stretch his upper body while he gazed around out of the corner of his eye. The only person Abe was interested in having a relationship with out of view at the moment but that didn't stop him from looking at his other teammates in various forms of dress.

The most developed on the team was definitely Hanai. He was simply bigger than everyone else; both taller and in stature. While he didn't have a ripped or chiseled body like some of the male models the catcher had seen on television he was coming along nicely. The captain had a nicely defined core that flirted with the prospect of more to come. His arms were not bulging with muscles but the lanky frame of the right fielder was definitely filling out. Abe liked what he saw and his mind started to crave for more. With random glances Abe studied the captain. His body was almost completely hairless except for patches underneath the armpits and a small trail of fur starting just above the navel and running down under the waistline of the right fielder's pants. Abe smirked as his imagination took over for his eyes and he reduced the fifth hole batter to nothing but the black boxer briefs he typically wore.

Abe knew this was pure lust not love and took in what he could before the jock finished changing and left the room. Abe stored what he had seen in his memory for later. He would not masturbate to what he had seen; Abe was not smitten enough by any of his teammates for that to happen. Even with Mihashi he was not completely physically attracted to the pitcher. Instead it was the feelings of love and comfort that Mihashi had offered him that made Abe rip out his heart, tie a bow around it, and hand it over to the timid pitcher to keep forever.

The catcher was the last one out of the locker room and subsequently alone as he walked home. He was still a bit randy from the surprise at lunch as well as ogling his friend while he was changing. Shun was gone when Takaya got home so the catcher decided to extend his bath time ritual and enjoy himself.

After his bath Abe settled into his traditional evening routine of homework, a brief dinner, and then sleep. This routine was rather elongated than normal as thoughts of Hanai and Mihashi ran through his head. While doing his homework Abe kept picturing Mihashi but only a little more grown up with the body Hanai currently had; taller with more mature features and more definition in his body. The catcher mentally recreated his pitcher as a lean, sculpted, and rather hot senior lying on a bench in the locker room with his Nishiura baseball jersey unbuttoned and nonchalantly open exposing a set of pecs and abs touched by the gods.

The world crushed around Abe when he woke up. Today would easily be one of the worst days of his life; although there have been a few days that stuck out over the past few months that were strong contenders for that title. The eleventh of December was always a day of dread for the catcher. Now with the surprise party his friends were throwing the catcher had driven him into a state of both distress and anxiety. He was worried at what was in store for him. It crossed his mind that nothing really could be too bad; a little embarrassing and he could probably catch grief about that for a while but all in all it couldn't be _too_ bad.

Abe prayed.

And for good measure he prayed again.

Only Shun was home when Takaya finally made it down stairs. "Happy birthday bro," the younger Abe said with more enthusiasm than their parents normally would. Takaya was thankful that Shun shared his feelings about birthdays.

"Thanks." Takaya smiled reflexively but changed it into a grin for good measure.

Shun had a grin of his own but there was a hint of something sinister at work. Takaya didn't like it. "By the way," Shun said, "have fun tonight and try not to make a fool of yourself. It's gonna be fun."

Takaya's eyes narrowed on his brother and his eyes pressed into a thin line. There was definitely a problem here. "What's going on? What do you know who told you?" Takaya hissed.

The grin never left Shun's face, even as he spoke. "All I can tell you is that you are going to have fun, and…" Shun trailed off with his face pursed into concentration. "Oh yeah; that and I was told to warn you. She said to tell you that 'if he tries to fight then we'll drag him.'"

"Aw man," Takaya looked at his little brother. It would be pointless to kill the messenger but it looked to Takaya that Shun was on their side. "Did she tell you her name?"

Shun nodded. "It was two of them, actually. The girl spoke but she was also talking to a guy in the background."

"Shun what was their names?"

"Does it matter?"

"It would let me know how severe their threat is," Takaya groaned.

"Um, I think they were Tajima-san and Aizawa-san."

Another groan rang through Takaya's lips. It would figure that these two would make the threats. They were probably enjoying putting him through this.

"Bro don't worry about it. Just follow along and soon it'll be over," Shun tried to consol his brother. It was a half hearted attempt but Takaya was thankful that there was at least half a heart involved.

Takaya pursed his lips. He did not like what was going to happen; Takaya was no onmyouji but he had enough foresight to recognize the terror of the coming party. 'At least Mihashi will be there,' Takaya reasoned to himself. He knew that while the party was going to be a form of hell that hell would be bearable if Mihashi was there.

Morning practice went surprisingly well. The team ran together in the halls and after a few birthday jibes directed at Abe all talk related to aging quickly died. Even throughout the day Abe's birthday was never mentioned, at least in front of the person in question. It seemed that the importance of the date was lost on everyone outside of the baseball club and they had kept it a secret. 'Maybe today wouldn't be so bad after all.'

The onslaught at lunch went better than Abe expected as well. Only a few people who were not on the baseball team wished their happiness on the dark haired teen for the special day. Even Aizawa kept it tame giving the catcher a very chesty hug before retreating with the others who were planning the party leaving the rest of the group to themselves. Abe was grateful for the normalcy of the day; even if the true horrors were still to come.

The only real surprise of lunch came at the end. As Aizawa leaned in and smashed her cleavage on the back of Abe's head before giving him a hug she said, "I spoke to your brother, Abe-kun. He sounds cute how old is he?"

Abe muttered under his breath before answering. "He's fourteen, just under two years younger than me."

Aizawa let out a squeal of delight. "Ooo! You should introduce me. I bet he's as cute as you are!"

As Aizawa left with Shinooka and some of the others Abe turned to the group at large. He was not really upset, per say, but he put up the front. It would be easier to get answers if there was menace to his threats. "Alright," he commanded, pressing his lips together into a frown at each pause. "Who gave her my phone number?"

Immediately Tajima raised his hand. "I did!" He called out.

Abe focused his glair onto the smiling third baseman. His pressed frown started to waver under the good spirits of the group.

"We had to make sure that you wouldn't skip out on us. Strictly," Tajima finished as Abe fought to continue his glare-frown combination.

The excitement in Tajima's eyes and voice was starting to become too powerful to fend off and finally Abe broke the face. "You don't have to worry about that," Abe said to his friend. "I figure it'll be a good way to kill a few hours and who knows, I might just have some fun."

"Don't worry you will," Nishihiro said. Abe heard the restrained excitement in the genius's voice and cringed at what he had in store.

"Don't worry Abe; you'll have fun. It's nothing too extravagant; but you should have seen what Aizawa-chan wanted to do," Tajima chimed in. "She wanted us all to go to the new indoor water park that opened last march on the other side of town; but we all thought that that would be a little too much. Strictly."

"Yeah," Nishihiro continued, "it was hard enough convincing you that things would be fine and low-key, but if you knew that we were going to be doing something like that then you would never have agreed."

Abe nodded his head in agreement. He knew that it would have made Aizawa's day to see Abe in a bathing suit; and he knew that she would have worn the smallest bikini she could find and would have tried to attach her chest to any part of Abe she could in her ill begotten attempt at swaying his mind.

As Abe turned to leave the year 1 class 9 classroom he was caught by Sakaeguchi. "Abe, we're meeting an hour after practice for dinner at Furikawa's. Don't be late."

The catcher nodded his head and promptly left the room. He let the anxiety and excitement flow in his mind and body as the day finished up. Even when he was at practice he interpreted the smiles of his teammates with evil undertones; like they were plotting something much more evil and devastating than a simply party. They were going to meat at Furikawa's after all. There simply was not enough space in the small homey ramen shop to cause a major ruckus that would cause Abe any real disdain. Hopefully.

All too soon Abe found himself on his way home with only an hour to get ready for whatever monstrous hurtle lay before him. As much as he wanted to just say screw it and skip the party he knew that this action would draw the festivities to his house.

Grudgingly he trod off to the CD shop and Furikawa's ramen shop.

Oddly enough Abe didn't run into anyone on his way to the small restaurant. As he got nearer it became odder until finally he was creeping along with his head on a swivel looking for anyone from the team.

But alas, nobody was in sight.

Abe had his back to the restaurant as he pushed open the door. He was five minutes late and knew that he had to see _someone_ relatively soon. Most of the team was punctual and even then there would still be stragglers like Mihashi poking around late.

"Happy birthday Abe!"

Abe hit his head on the door frame as he jumped in surprise. Once his eyes refocused after the pain subsided Abe's heart collapsed. The ramen shop was decorated with streamers from one end to the other in colors fit for a six year olds birthday. Thankfully the paper streamers were the extent of the physical decoration, aside from a few in the crowd wearing party hats.

The shock was much worse than the actual decoration and as the catcher became accustom to the new décor he started to appreciate the simplicity of the place. Even the cake laying on the table that was surrounded by the party guests was not as bad. It was obviously homemade and shaped like home plate; something Abe found kind of cute.

"Th-thanks guys." The shock was still evident in Abe's voice.

Abe took two more steps into the building and regretted it. He anticipated the group flowing around the table to wish them their best for his birthday but what he didn't expect was Aizawa's speed. She simply flew around the table and tackled him into a very busty yet nonetheless bone-crushing hug. The force of the impact was so much that it knocked the pair of them back into the wall where they glanced off and toppled to the floor; female on top of male, the former's arms wrapped tightly around that latter's body.

Laughter echoed around the room and from Abe's perspective it was kinda funny, but in no way desirable.

After an extra tight squeeze the wraith that haunted Abe disentwined her limbs from his frail body and peeled herself off of him. The catcher simply laid on the ground still dazed after the attack.

Two sets of arms reached down and dragged the black haired teen onto his feet. Once his senses came back to him Abe registered Hamada on his left and Hanai on his right still holding onto the catcher making sure he wouldn't crumple back down.

More laughter.

"Thanks guys," Abe muttered to each of the pillars supporting him in turn.

Then, feeling the strength returning to his legs, Abe turned to the group as a whole. "Thank you, everyone, for this. I've never been one for birthdays and at first I was kinda scared about what I was going to find. But this is nice."

It was not entirely true, but it wasn't a lie either. If Abe had to choose a place he liked to be more than pretty much anywhere besides a baseball field, it would have to be Furikawa's. It was quite the perfect setting for his first actual birthday party.

The baseball team, Hamada, Shinooka, and a few other classmates that became close to the group were all around Abe wishing him their best now that the catcher had regained his balance.

It surprised Abe that Mihashi hung to the back and didn't make eye contact. What surprised him even more was when Mihashi tried to copy what Hanai had done and give Abe a one-armed guy hug. In the perfect example of an awkward situation everyone looked on as Mihashi tried to be casual and only made things worse. Abe was red-faced and had to give the crowd of onlookers his patented death-glare to keep them from laughing. To be honest Abe didn't know what drove the blond to hug him instead of pat him on the back like most of the others but he was glad Mihashi decided to go this way. The only thing Abe wished was that everyone else wasn't there so that Abe could do more than give his friend a quick squeeze back.

All too soon Mihashi slinked away just as red as Abe. Shinooka also gave Abe a hug and ditto with Tajima, although the third baseman pulled off the guy hug with more grace than Mihashi.

Much to Abe's pleasure there were no party games, no weird little clowns, and nothing out of the ordinary. If he were to subtract the cake and the streamers this could have been just another normal Friday night at Furikawa's. Everyone ordered different types of ramen for dinner and when that was all done they cut the cake and everyone, including the owner, had a piece. It pleased Abe to see that she was talking and chatting to the group.

Abe was sitting at one of the tables talking lazily to Mihashi and Izumi. The atmosphere in the shop was starting to quiet down from the initial birthday extravaganza. That all changed, however, when Aizawa practically screamed "Abe-kun!" in Abe's ear stunning him long enough for her to slither one arm around his neck pulling his head rather forcefully into her chest. "Here's your gift!" She squealed.

"Aizawa-chan I…I…" Abe tried to stammer out 'I can't breathe' but the last part took him by surprise. "Gift?" he exclaimed. "You guys shouldn't have; I mean we're friends and all but you don't need to spend any money on me."

"We all chipped in," Hanai called from another table. "So it wasn't much."

"Hurry up and open it!" Tajima hollered from next to Hanai.

The group murmured in support of the idea and Abe looked at the package. He had no idea what it could be.

Abe ripped the paper off the top revealing an old shoe box. "Aw, you got me a new pair of shoes," Abe joked.

"No!" Mihashi exclaimed. A few of the people closest to Mihashi looked at him quizzically, Abe included. Mihashi turned a florescent shade of scarlet and finished by saying in a very quiet voice "i-it's inside the b-box."

Abe didn't bother to correct the pitcher, he knew it would be better not to draw attention to Mihashi's misinterpretation of Abe's joke. Instead he pried the lid off the box only to discover a black mass of leather. Abe looked at it in disbelief. He pulled it out and examined it carefully in his hands; shock, awe, and gratitude carved in stone all over his face.

"I…this…you…" Abe started stuttering. There was no way.

"Breathe," Sakaeguchi called him from across the table.

It would be a good idea if he could but the combination of surprise at getting a new and expensive catcher's glove for his birthday and Aizawa's arm closing off half of Abe's windpipe made Sakaeguchi's remark but a dream.

After a few very long moments Abe regained himself. "Wow, thank you everyone. This is perfect. I can't believe you did this for me."

"It was Mihashi's idea," Izumi said nonchalantly. "He told us you broke your glove playing catch with him. That one was pretty old anyway and Mihashi went through all the trouble collecting from the team. Of course we were more than happy to chip in."

Before he could stop himself, and he wouldn't have even if he could; Abe reached out and latched his arm around Mihashi. In one big movement he sucked the pitcher into another hug. "Thanks," he said. Abe would have said more but he dared not. A tear had already escaped down his cheek and he was afraid that if he spoke any more his emotions would overwhelm him. Instead he sufficed his desires by holding Mihashi close as long as he dared before giving one more squeeze and letting go.

The quickness and strength of Abe's hug made Aizawa loose her grip on Abe and he slid out of her hug as he hugged Mihashi. Once the guy hug had ended Aizawa slid her arms around Abe and thrust herself forward onto him, hoping for a thank you hug like Mihashi got. Abe knew what she was after and acted like he didn't. This proved to be a bad move because after a few moments of his inaction Aizawa pulled the black haired teen so deep into her chest that Abe felt the back of his head part her breasts like Moses parted the red sea.

Most of the room stifled laughs behind their hands. None of them knew Abe's secret but it dawned on almost all of them after weeks of seeing the way he reacted around the rather crazy Aizawa that Abe was not interested in her despite her best efforts.

Abe pulled back from the chasm that was the female's chest and gulped for air. "Um, thank you Aizawa-chan," he said to the brunette girl. "But you don't need to hug me that tight." Abe was now unnerved and it showed in his voice.

"But I just wanted you to know how happy I am that you liked our gift," she retorted.

"I love the gift, I really do and I'm more than grateful that everyone chipped in to buy it for me and especially for Mihashi who had the idea and put the whole thing together." Abe stopped to draw a breath. He didn't mean to go off into a rant but Aizawa was reeling and now would be the time for Abe to put his foot down. "Thank you so much," he repeated, "but you don't have to get so touchy-feely all the time."

"But I-" she started.

Abe cut her off. "There's nothing wrong with just saying hi instead of tackling me to the ground. Even _I_ need my space sometimes."

Oki might as well have been wearing blue tights and a red cape because when he spoke up he became Abe's superman, but Abe wished he would have chosen a different topic. "So Abe," he said, "what is your family doing for today?"

This made Abe shift in his chair. "Oh, um, well," he stuttered, "nothing really. Both my parents are working like usual. We don't really celebrate the whole birthday thing."

"That stinks," Oki said in a carefree voice. It sounded to Abe like he was trying to draw attention away from the depressing comment.

After three hours the group was ready to move on and Furikawa's was ready to start closing up shop. From the ramen shop the group walked the short distance to the nearby karaoke place and continued the party there. Everyone laughed and joked as they sang and then mocked each other for either their song selection or their voice or both. Abe was surprised, however, at how good Mizutani's singing voice was. Abe attributed it to the fact the idiot left was always listening to music and was bound to sing along sometime.

The hours slipped by and soon the latter hours of the night made an appearance. Despite it being Friday night the group was still tired from the early morning practice and the week in general. They all called it a night and went their separate ways at the customary spot in front of the CD store.

The day in general pleased Abe immensely. The party had been much tamer than he had been expecting. That added to the good feeling but what topped it off was the gift the team, but Abe contributed mostly to Mihashi, got him. It was the perfect gift at the perfect time. The only bad thing was that now Abe wanted to thank Mihashi in some way but couldn't fathom any sort of ideas. A simple "thank you" would never be sufficient for something as amazing as what the blond pitcher gave him.

"Someone's happy," Shun commented after seeing the large grin stretching the corner of his brother's mouth to its limits.

Abe chuckled a little before answering his brother. "My teammates are the greatest. They not only threw me a more or less surprise birthday party, but they also got me a brand new catcher's mitt."

Shun's eyes widened large. He knew how expensive catcher's mitts were. "Wow, they must really like you."

"Mihashi put it together," Takaya explained. "He went around to everyone and collected money. I can only imagine how much time he put into it; not to mention his own money." The thought hadn't really occurred to Takaya until he spoke it. He wondered how much money Mihashi actually put in and hoped it was not a lot, but either way Takaya was obligated to thank the pitcher in some way.

"Takaya!" His mother called.

"Yeah?" He bellowed back before walking towards the sound of his mother in the living room.

His mother and father were lounging on the couch watching TV. "What do you need?" He asked. The pleasantness in his otherwise cool voice made his father lift an eyebrow.

"Good day?" He asked.

The grin reappeared on Takaya's face. "Some of the guys from the team and friends from class threw me a surprise birthday party and got me a new catcher's mitt."

His mom and dad looked at each other, the faint lines of surprise appearing on their face. "Sounds like some friends," his father replied.

"So what did you need, mom?"

The female Abe shifted in her seat, sitting a bit more upright. "As you know your uncle and aunt are out of town. They asked us to keep an eye on the place and take care of things while they're away and we're supposed to get a lot of snow tonight. Since you have a day off tomorrow could you go over there and shovel their driveway? Unless I'm mistaken they said something about making it worth your while."

Takaya thought for a moment before he answered. By the sound of things it looked like they had asked for him specifically. The only possible reason Takaya could figure out was because they had something for him that they wanted to give him all along, so they might as well get some work out of it. It didn't matter, though, because Takaya would have done it regardless. "Sure," he said. At the very least it would get him out of the house.

After he bade his parents goodnight Takaya retreated to his bedroom and after a few quick adjustments to his new glove decided that it was time he went to bed.


	8. Chapter 8

Author's Note: Sorry for the wait for the update…things have been a little hectic. My exams are starting up and this chapter turned out to be a bit longer than I expected it to be. It'll probably be a little while until the next update but it will come; I've currently got a few projects I'm working on including trying to find more inspiration for a novel. Thank you for all the reviews, please keep them up!!

**Chapter 8**

Just as his mother had predicted the ground was covered in snow. Takaya looked out his bedroom window only to discover a few centimeters' buildup of snow on the windowsill.

With bleary eyes Takaya got ready to go to his aunt and uncle's house. He was almost out the door when his mobile rang.

Mihashi was on the other side. "Hello, a-Abe-kun?"

"Hey Mihashi, what's up?" Abe asked; glad to hear his friend's voice.

A long line of stutters followed Abe's question. He could tell that the pitcher was having a hard time asking something. Finally the pitcher managed an intelligible question: "A-a-Abe-kun, do y-you w-want to ha-hang out t-today?"

Despite being on the phone Abe could see Mihashi blushing. 'Why is it such a big deal that he wants to hang out? Friends do it all the time, don't they?' Abe thought to himself. "Sure," Abe responded. "I have to go to my aunt and uncle's house and shovel their driveway 'cuz they're not home. If you want to join me it'll only take me a few minutes and we can hang out there afterwards."

"Mmm," Mihashi grunted in agreement.

"I'll meet you at the CD store in a few minutes. See ya."

The day's prospect had Abe's stomach fluttering. He tried to make the day seem like a normal one yet no matter how hard he tried Abe's brain kept reverting back to one simple truth: he had just made a date with Mihashi. The dark haired teen almost hyperventilated when he first thought this. It took him a few long moments to calm down enough to be able to think. Before taking off Abe ran back up to his room and quickly threw a second change of clothes into the bag he was bringing with him.

Mihashi was leaning up against the wall of the CD shop when Abe arrived. Abe took in the appearance of his friend before he announced his presence. Mihashi jumped at the catcher's voice. "Oh, a-Abe-kun," the timid pitcher remarked.

"Yo. You ready to go?" Abe asked.

Mihashi simply nodded his head.

"Right. Let's take off then. Thanks for agreeing to come." Mihashi turned to walk toward the train station but Abe put his arm on his shoulder and stopped him. "Mihashi, thank you for the mitt. It means a lot to me."

The two teens matched each other in the depths of their blushes.

"Er, yeah. Let's go," Abe said again.

Both teens were silent on the twenty minute ride to the station on the other side of town. The silence between them was starting to irritate Abe. He wanted desperately to hear Mihashi say something or give some sort of sign that he was comfortable around the taller boy. Instead Abe spent the entire time watching his friend fidget and squirm as if acting out some sort of rambunctious inner dialogue. The moods of the dirty blond shifted so often that after a while Abe stopped reacting to swings and instead gave a loud sigh ever so often.

When their stop came up Abe snagged Mihashi by the wrist. He dragged the startled blond boy through the immensely crowded station and down to the street. "Sorry," Abe said after seeing a now teary eyed pitcher looking up at him. "I, I didn't want to lose you in the crowd. You're not hurt are you?"

"Mmm," Mihashi gave an affirming grunt.

"Alright then, let's go. It's not too far away Mihashi."

Abe slowed his pace enough to let the pitcher catch up with him. The pair walked for a few more silent minutes on the snowy sidewalk until they were well out of the shopping district and into the residential district.

The house was distinguishable before Abe pointed it out to his companion; Takaya's uncle's house was the only one on the street that did not have a cleared driveway or walkway. The blissfully unblemished blanket of white was a distinct sign of uninhabitants when compared to the other yards, scattered and marred with footprints in the snow. Thankfully for Abe the snow was only a few centimeters deep and could be cleared off in less than an hour.

The taller teen showed the elder into the house. "Make yourself at home Mihashi. I should be done in less than an hour."

Abe turned to head back out into the yard when a voice stopped him. "Um, a-Abe-kun…I'll…help." Mihashi sounded unsure of himself. "If you want," he added at the end.

Abe wanted to do many things to Mihashi. The smaller teen looked cute in his unsure state making Abe want to ensnare him in a tight embrace. The pitcher also made Abe want to smack some self esteem into him. Mihashi's lips were slightly parted and were so very inviting to Abe, beckoning the catcher in have a taste. Instead Abe used his foresight and put a whole hearted smile, making sure it lit up his whole face. "Sure, I'd love if you helped me. That would cut the time down in half. I'll show you to the garage." The dark haired teen had to mentally stop himself from skipping to the garage as to not both scare off Mihashi as well as look like a fool in front of said cute teen.

It surprised Abe at how hard his friend worked. Abe was no slack off but Mihashi had finished the walkway and had started on the top of the driveway by the time Abe was even a third of the way through his section. As much as it surprised Abe it did make sense to him. Mihashi had always worked hard in practice and in everything else he did, spare his studies. It also didn't help Abe's case that ever few minutes he would sneak glances at his friend and watch him, taking in the smaller boy's features as he worked.

In just over a half hour's time the two boys met their shovels in the middle of the driveway. It pleased Abe to see a smile dominate the other emotions of Mihashi's face. After a brief stint into the garage to hang the shovels back up Abe had an idea; it was risky but if it worked it would make the pitcher open up and relax a bit more. He bent down and formed a handful of snow into an oblong ball. "Hey Mihashi!" Abe called before sending the snowball through the air to Mihashi's chest.

Mihashi turned around just in time for the ball of snow to score a direct hit. The pitcher's eyes widened what Abe hoped was simply shock.

'I hope when the others picked on him they didn't pelt him with snowballs,' Abe thought about after the fact. 'Come on, come one, come on, form one and throw it back!' "You gonna throw one back or not?" Abe taunted a little more, hoping the invite would spur the smaller teen into action.

A few seconds of inaction on the blonde's part gave Abe his answer. He bowed his head in shame, silently cursing himself for failed attempt.

Wham! A cold ball the size of a baseball smacked the catcher in left shoulder. Abe shot his head up to see Mihashi at the tail end of his windup. "Now it's on!" Abe yelled as he bent down to form another ball, ditching his gloves in his pockets so he could better form the balls.

Despite being a catcher it is never good to have a snowball fight with a pitcher. This was a little fact that hadn't occurred to Abe until after the epic snowball fight when a soaking wet Abe realized that Mihashi hadn't missed with his snowballs, just like his baseballs. The two ran around the yard pelting each other with the spheres of white occasionally hiding behind the tree in the yard or a particularly large snow bank in the street or any other object that might shield them from the projectiles. Abe spent more time watching Mihashi laugh and smile as the deadly sniper of a pitcher never missed his mark.

Abe probably could have put up more of a fight against his smaller friend but he was too scared of hurting the boy or worse yet doing something that would make Mihashi hate him.

After an hour of running and throwing the two were dead tired, wet, and cold. "Alright Mihashi," Abe called poking his head up from behind the snow bank he was using as a shield. Just as his head cleared the bank another snowball collided with Abe's nose and exploded into millions of tiny shards of ice crystals.

The black haired teen wiped the snow and water out of his eyes and hair before he continued. "I'm dead. I think we should go back inside before we both catch a cold."

Mihashi leaned out from behind the tree he was hiding behind, snowball at the ready. "A-alright, a-Abe-kun," he replied.

The two boys met at the door. Abe could see that the pitcher too was gloveless, hatless, and drenched with cold water. It was a good thing that he brought an extra change of clothes for Mihashi.

"Mihashi," Abe called from the living room to the blond who was still sliding out of his boots in the doorway. "You can go ahead and take a shower first. I'll make us something for lunch. Is there anything special you want?"

"Um, Abe-kun, I d-don't have any…clothes," Mihashi trailed off as he said the last word.

"Oh! That's right. Um, let's see…" Abe rummaged through his bag that was sitting on the table. "Here you go," he said pulling out the clothes he had packed for his friend. They were some of his older and dressier clothes that were too small for him yet still a little too big for Shun. Abe liked the way Mihashi looked in a white button down shirt like the ones they had to wear for school. He himself had packed much of the same clothes he had set aside for Mihashi, hoping the smaller teen wouldn't noticed their 'accidentally' matching. "These should work."

Abe turned and handed the folded clothes to his wide-eyed friend. "Wow, Abe-kun thinks of e-everything," Mihashi exclaimed in a voice that, much to Abe's dismay, was sincerely amazed.

"Well I figured something like this could happen," Abe said matter-of-factly. So what do you want for lunch?"

"A-anything should work," Mihashi responded through chattering teeth. "B-b-by the way, a-Abe-kun, wh-where's the b-b-bathroom?"

"Up the stairs, to the right, first door on the left," Abe called to his friend while he started on a simple stir fry; it would hopefully be warm and welcoming to the timid teen. Abe was not expert chef but he was proud of his cooking skills. It was an important thing to learn.

After watching Mihashi disappear up the stairs Abe got all of the ingredients together. He was amused to find that apparently his relatives stocked up in particular on snacks while they were away; almost like they expected something like this to happen. They were gone for the week and yet almost all of the ingredients Abe found were still fresh. A little bit of snooping on the catcher's part resulted in the jackpot of some been "conveniently" hidden in the back of the fridge. There wasn't much there, maybe enough for a hungry teen, but Abe decided to add it to the mishmash of cooking vegetables, oil, and soy sauce.

Mihashi was still presumably in the bathroom when Abe finished cooking the meal. In a flash of hospitality Abe divided the stir fry into two large bowls making sure to give his dirty blond friend almost all of the beef, keeping just enough on top to stop the smaller boy from pointing out the uneven distribution of protein.

Abe had a few minutes before Mihashi came down from the bathroom. On the table was a small light blue envelope. It was unmistakably a birthday card from his aunt and uncle that just-so-happened to be nonchalantly sitting on the kitchen table in plain sight. He knew it would only be a matter of time before he found the little gift they left; he could always count on his extended family for a gift on his birthday, even if he didn't necessarily want it. It wasn't that he didn't care for the birthday gifts, the money he normally got was nothing large but every little bit helps when you don't have a job. Far from it he was appreciative of the gifts but didn't see their necessity, after all he was never big on birthdays.

Today however the card gave Abe an idea. He still felt bad about having Mihashi chip in for the mitt, despite the pitcher's feelings on the subject, and this would give him an opportunity to do something for his friend. The only thing was that now he had to think of some reason for them to go out without making things feel like a date.

Soon enough Mihashi descended the stairs taking Abe's breath away. Abe was right to choose the white button down shirt for Mihashi. It contrasted nicely with the dark jeans the pitcher wore and the brightness of the shirt helped accent the twinkle in his eyes.

Mihashi's face was flushed with a blush as he obsessive-compulsively straightened the shirt. Abe could tell that his friend was nervous wearing the clothing but he looked generally happy.

"Mihashi, here you go. I hope you like stir fry," Abe called the teen's attention to the bowl laden with vegetables and meat.

A splendid sparkle lit up Mihashi's blue eyes leaving Abe's knees once again weak and weary. "Ah…Abe-kun; th-thanks!" Mihashi exclaimed.

"Don't…mention it," Abe replied, oddly taken off guard by Mihashi. "Er, I'm going to go clean up. I'll be back soon if you need anything. Go ahead and make yourself at home."

Abe turned and walked upstairs, taking the bag of clothes with him. he had to leave before the bubbling giddiness in his stomach turned into something else making it difficult for him to be around Mihashi. If they were ever going to be able to hang out alone together then Abe would have to learn to control himself. The smaller and older teen had shown no signs of being homophobic in the least. In fact there was a chance that Mihashi would even be alright with the fact that Abe was gay. The problem was Mihashi's temperament. He was so emotionally fickle and unmanageable that there was no way to judge how he would react to Abe's confession. It could break the teen or it could completely make his day. Two reactions on the extreme yet both were just as likely as any other culminating in a risk that Abe wasn't ready to take.

All of this passed through Abe's head as he took his shower. Normally he would have opted for a bath so he could think but this was not something he wanted to draw out. Abe didn't want to take too long and make Mihashi uncomfortable waiting forever for Abe to get out. He also didn't want to spend too much time away from Mihashi. It was a reaction well documented by Abe; he was actually happier when he was around the dirty blond. Thirdly, and the least paramount in his bathing decision, was Abe's stomach. This set of organs, typically the second leading motivational factor for teens his age, was angry at him for leaving the warm bowl of stir fry behind.

The warm water felt good on Abe's skin. He needed to relax and think. He was in a date-like situation with Mihashi. It was not a date, there was no way the dirty blond would go for that and even if he did he would be so nervous it would only piss Abe off. Instead Abe needed a way he could fool himself into thinking he was on a date with Mihashi while not making things too obvious to the quirky pitcher. Abe had to find something that two guys did normally while hanging out, but also something a couple did; all while making it a no-pressure situation.

'Screw it,' he thought to himself. 'Too complicated. Plan B: wing the situation, no date.'

Mihashi was sitting down at the table in the kitchen when Abe came down stairs, his bowl empty and unless Abe was imagining it scraped clean. "How did you like it?" Abe asked while putting his bowl in the oven to reheat it.

"Mmmm," Mihashi groaned in ecstasy after his feeding frenzy. "Abe-kun's…a good cook!"

Said catcher went red. "Well, um, it was only a s-stir fry."

Mihashi was silent as he stared in awed remembrance at his empty bowl.

"Are you still hungry?" Abe asked taking his friend, though it was more of a statement than a question. Without waiting for a reply Abe removed his now warmed bowl from the oven and set it before the pitcher. "Here you go Mihashi."

"Ah, um, but, ah," Mihashi stuttered, trying to voice his protest. "Now…now a-Abe-kun doesn't have a-anything to eat."

"Don't worry about it, Mihashi. I'll grab something else. You should eat up, your still growing."

The timid pitcher twitched and fidgeted as he tried to overcome the sounds being emitted from the pit of his stomach. It was obvious Mihashi's stomach was winning over his better judgment. It was a quick battle and eventually Mihashi gratuitously thanked Abe before attacking the bowl of stir fry with a ferocity the catcher had never seen from the pitcher.

As Abe watched the pitcher devour the bowl, being surprised when Mihashi actually left the bowl in one piece, he tried to think of something he could do for his friend. The ferocity of which Mihashi ate reminded Abe that he too was a teenager and like every teen food was in his top three. He was thankful that his stomach didn't give him a verbal warning and placated the organ system by raiding the fridge and cupboards, pillaging them of anything that looked appetizing. Finally the catcher was refueled with a mixture of junk food and odds and ends of somewhat healthy foodstuffs.

"So, um, Mihashi," the catcher started out. He wasn't sure how to ask his question.

Instead Mihashi told him, although unknowingly. "Um, a-Abe-kun, do y-you think tha-that we could g-go to the sh-shopping di-district today?"

"Sure. What do you need to pick up?"

Scarlet blush bloomed across Mihashi's face making Abe wish he hadn't asked. "I, I sp-spilled juice on m-my school shirt and no-now it's st-stained."

Abe gave Mihashi a crooked smile, hoping it would tell the smaller teen that everything was alright. "We just have to get you a new one then don't we?"

The dirty blond pitcher diverted his eyes. "Mmm" he grunted. Abe was disappointed in this reaction but didn't press the issue. He didn't want his friend to feel any more embarrassment than he already had.

The clock had made a good start into the afternoon hours. Torrents of sleepiness washed over Abe making him long to curl up on the sofa with his dirty blond friend and pass the time watching a movie, or perhaps other things. He thought about trying to convince Mihashi to stay in and that they could go out some other time. But then it occurred to analytical teen: he was doing things a bit out of order. It would be better if he slowed things down and kept everything on a friendly level at the moment. There would be plenty of snowy days to come where the two could lounge around the house together. Better not scare Mihashi off by moving too fast.

The pair left for shopping district. They bypassed the train station, the air was chilly but it would be faster for them to walk to the shopping district than try to navigate the trains throughout town.

As Abe expected, the shopping district was fairly crowded. People from every age group could be seen fluttering in and out of the different shops and arcades trying to have some fun on a weekend without any school or work to curb their moods. Abe shared the general mood of the crowd; a congenial atmosphere made obvious and prevalent by the mouths of the people upturned at the corners into smiles racked with contentment.

Abe paid these smiles little attention. Mihashi was frowning, obviously nervous. The dark haired teen tried to comprehend how his friend could get nervous while doing a mundane activity such as buying a new shirt. Things like this happened all the time, so why was he so nervous? These thoughts bounced around in Abe's head as he analyzed the situation and what he could do to make Mihashi feel better.

"Hey Mihashi, how about we take a stop off at the arcade after we pick up your shirt?" It was simple enough, wholesome enough for two friends to go to the arcade together on a Saturday; no big deal. But it was also a place that some guys, granted mostly very tacky guys, brought girls for dates. The only difference was that Mihashi clearly was not a girl and hopefully he would have some fun and relax a little.

"So Mihashi what do you want to do first? We could pick up your shirt first or we could have a little fun at the arcade. What do you want to do?"

Mihashi's cheeks burned scarlet. As much as Abe wanted to cure Mihashi of his bashfulness the catcher couldn't help but marvel at the pitcher's cuteness. "Um…maybe…a-Abe-kun could…decide…" the pitcher murmured.

Abe was half way into a facepalm when he stopped himself. This was not the kind of behavior he wanted to show in front of Mihashi. Any sign of angered frustration would only harm the pitcher's weak resolve and self esteem and ruin everything Abe wanted to do. Instead he went the diplomatic rout. "Sorry Mihashi, it's up to you."

"Ah, um, but a-Abe-kun –" Mihashi protested.

"Nope. Sorry Mihashi. You're choosing." If only Abe could pull the smaller boy out of his shell. If only.

Abe could practically see the tears that were just behind the smaller teen's eyes. "B-but what if a-Abe-kun doesn't like wh-what I choose?"

'Silly Mihashi,' Abe thought, 'no matter what you pick as long as I'm with you I'll be happy.' "It doesn't matter what you choose Mihashi. I'm up for anything."

Mihashi was shifting his weight back and forth as if using his entire body to point at the invisible options he was weighing in his head. Abe only let this last for a few seconds. There were other people around after all. "Mihashi," the black haired teen said while resting his hand on his friend's shoulder. "Just make a choice. No pressure."

The smaller teen locked his frightful gaze with Abe's eyes. The catcher could feel himself being pulled in. Would Abe ever be able to fight the power? Would he ever want to?

At the very least he had to now. Later he would let the fanciful orbs suck him in; later he told himself.

"So what'll it be?"

"Ah, eh, um…how about…we get…the shirt."

Ah the beautiful dirty blond might never learn. "The shirt it is! Come on Mihashi, let's go." Abe used the arm on Mihashi's shoulder to get the pitcher walking toward the high end boutique that supplied the necessary clothes for the area's school uniforms.

The duo navigated through the store bypassing first female manikins dressed in a myriad of clothes in a multi-faceted array of colors. As they plunged deeper into the bowels of the store they reached the men's section. Abe mused to himself the reasoning why the guys sections were always in the back of shops like this; rationalizing that guys typically were narrow minded buyers who came in for an item and left with said item, while women tended to shop and impulse buy. All in all it was a good strategy.

The back corner of the store had the staunch white button ups that the couple was looking for. Mihashi made a bee-line for the rack and in a way only he could made the random task of picking out a shirt that fit into a spectacle to behold. Abe sat back and watched as the pitcher chose one, looked at it, put it back, moved to the other side of the rack, chose another one, look at it, put it back, and then move back to side he was just on and pick out another one. This went on for a few minutes while Abe quickly lost interest. He wanted to watch the pitcher; taking his eyes off his friend made him oddly apprehensive and he worried that something might happen to Mihashi.

Instead he started looking over the different styles and colors of clothes. Nishiura only allowed guys to wear white button ups, but the second Abe saw the different shades of dull pastel colors he instantly started to think who on the baseball team fit each color. Hanai was definitely the astonishing scarlet, the bold one and first place the eyes went. Tajima was definitely the charcoal black, a standout in a league of its own. Sakaeguchi was the baby blue, the calm and peaceful one that unified the team. Izumi the speed demon had to be the orange, a little standoffish and Abe wasn't quite sure what to make of it. If all of this was true then Abe rationalized that Mihashi would have to be the white, there was no other way around it. Mihashi was pure, innocent, kind, still living in the kingdom of childhood. Definitely white.

The pair was in the store for less than twenty minutes; it was shorter than Abe expected but he never thought that they would spend the whole time trying to pick out one shirt. Abe wanted to hurry Mihashi along. How much time did it really take to find a white button up shirt that fit? But that would make Mihashi uncomfortable and today, among other things, was all about making Mihashi feel welcomed and relaxed around Abe. Or at the very least deepen the friendship the two already shared.

When they walked out of the warm shop and back on the snowy street the air of having their one chore for the day washed over Abe. Now the two could just hang out and have fun like every other pair of high school first year friends.

"So Mihashi where to?"

Mihashi stopped dead and stared at Abe. "Huh? What? You mean I have to chose?"

Abe stopped and faced his friend. "Yep. We got your shirt and now what do you wanna do? We could go to the arcade or continue shopping or what ever you want to do."

"I wanna do…what ever Abe wants to do!"

Mihashi's eyes sparkled as they shown at his friend. Curse him and his cuteness. "Sorry Mihashi. It doesn't work that way. It's your choice, there's no way around it."

The dirty blond pitcher started to stutter again. Abe was quite use to this by now, although that had nothing to do with the fact that Abe had no idea how to calm the pitcher down and make him think and speak clearly. A hundred different scenarios ran though Abe's head in the seconds Mihashi was spluttering random gibberish. A small percentage of these random scenarios seemed rather plausible and pleasurable in their combination of preserving their friendship as well as giving Abe some sort of satisfaction, whether it be pleasurable or emotional. In the blink of an eye Abe weighted the risks and benefits of what he was about to do and applied his future action with what he had seen other guys do at school and when they hung out. In a simple, seeming-to-mean-nothing gesture Abe casually slung his arm around Mihashi's shoulders. "Come on Mihashi, it's your choice. I won't get mad no matter what you choose."

Abe was so excited and scared at what he had just done he was amazed that Mihashi couldn't feel him shaking or even hear the unease mixed with exhilaration thick in Abe's voice. The gesture was innocent enough; at least looking at it from the outside. If only Mihashi knew how much this little contact was making Abe's heart flutter and his body tremble.

Mihashi didn't exactly shirk away from Abe's arm, a little tidbit that the catcher stored away in the back of his head. "Um, I, ah…" the pitcher started to stutter.

"Come on Mihashi, just make a decision."

"Um, how about…the…arcade…" Mihashi bowed his head.

Abe pulled the pitcher into a one armed guy hug. "The arcade it is. Let's go."

The catcher quickly released Mihashi and the two walked to quick few blocks to the arcade in awkward silence. The place was packed with throngs of students. Abe looked around a smirked as he categorized just about everyone he saw. Most were student age teens and kids simply there with friends or by themselves to have a good time. There were the occasional couple there on a rather lame date, a fact that was apparent just about in every case by the look on the girl's face as they watched their 'boyfriend' play game after game with feigned interest. Then there was the extremely rare case where both sides of the couple were actually having fun. The dark haired teen hoped that he and Mihashi would be one of those, although he was still unsure of whether their little outing could be considered an official 'date' or just two friends hanging out.

Finding two open games next to each other was more than less nil. By the time the two had got the necessary pockets full of coins most machines had either a line waiting or a crowd surrounding a gamer in some impossibly hard secret level. Now that the two were in the unfortunately unfamiliar arcade, Abe had no idea where to go first. He had never seen Mihashi play any video games and didn't know what kind he liked. It crossed his mind that the blond might be a fan of sports games given his obsession with pitching. Fighting games were almost definitely out of the question. Granted Abe wasn't a fan of them either, spare the Mortal Kombat series that for some reason had a special place in the catcher's heart; but Abe was fairly certain that Mihashi didn't have the same soft spot. Maybe racing? RPG?

Abe might as well ask. "So Mihashi, what first? What kind of games do you like? And don't even bother asking me. You're picking."

"Ah, um, how about…that one." Mihashi pointed to an open machine in the back corner of the video arcade that had a racecar flanked by two crossed checkered flags on each side and the words 'San Francisco Rush' in bold yellow lettering.

"So you like racing games Mihashi?" Abe questioned.

"Um…yeah."

Abe took the pitcher's words at face value and left it at that. "Well it's open; that's good. Come on let's go. You're first."

Mihashi climbed into small plastic molded racecar while Abe watched. The lights on the video display flickered to life and in no time Mihashi was racing…poorly. Abe was silent as he watched the bright red sports car his friend was steering drive mercilessly into wall after wall resulting in numerous crashes. At first Abe thought that Mihashi had only chosen this game at random, unsure of how the catcher would react to the pitcher's choice in games. It would be something that the pitcher would do; he _had _pulled that stunt before. But the more the dark haired teen thought about it and the more he watched it became apparent that Mihashi did somewhat like racing games, he just stunk at them. By this time Mihashi was already being lapped by the cars in first through fourth place. It crossed Abe's mind that, given Mihashi's past, he never really went to the arcade because he didn't have anyone to go with; instead he spent all of his spare time learning the godlike control the pitcher possessed.

All four heats in the race ended with Mihashi in last place. However, in consolation to the rather depressed pitcher Abe pointed out that by the last race Mihashi hadn't been lapped once and almost didn't finish last.

Mihashi climbed out of the seat, signaling that he was done with the game. "A-Abe-kun's turn," he simply stated.

Abe pressed his lips into a frown. Sure it was only fair that it was his turn to play a game, but he had had more fun simply watching Mihashi. It greatly amused the catcher to see his friend not only try to steer the car around the turns on the display, but Abe found great amusement in watching Mihashi himself lean his body in the direction he wanted to turn the car, as if hoping that the extra effort would somehow transfer to the red machine on the screen giving it the extra oomph it needed to make the turn.

A little further down the wall was a free Mortal Kombat III game. Instantly Abe felt the arcade cry out to be played. Who was he to deny the machine? He was simply a mortal, itching for a taste of kombat…III.

"Mihashi I'm going to this one," the catcher motioned with a jerk of his head towards the now empty game.

"A-Abe-kun like's fighting games?" The smaller teen asked.

Abe cocked the right side of his mouth into a grin spewing out copious amounts of the private joke he found so amusing. "Not really; but this series holds a special place in my heart."

"Abe-kun goes to the arcade a lot?"

Abe wasn't sure if that was a question or a statement. For the sake of getting Mihashi talking and avoiding, well who was he kidding reducing the number, of awkward moments between them today. "I use to when I was little. Now I don't really have time but I use to come here and think a lot when I was little."

"Isn't this far from Abe-kun's house?" Mihashi prompted.

The taller teen gave a breathless chuckle. "Right now it is, but when I was little I use to live in my Aunt and Uncle's house and they lived where I do now."

"What happened?" Mihashi asked.

Judging by the way the smaller teen asked without pausing or holding back he spoke naturally, without being conscious of being rejected. Victory for Abe. "My Uncle got a job on this side of town; and since Shun, my little brother, was born a little while before my Aunt and Uncle and my parents decided to trade houses. My Aunt and Uncle got a house closer to their work and my parents got a house that would better accommodate our growing family."

"That makes sense."

Abe liked this Mihashi; he couldn't exactly call the pitcher confident but at the very least he had let go of some of his self-consciousness and was, fingers crossed, starting to feel at least a _little _more confident around Abe. Always a step in the right direction.

By now the duo was standing in front of the arcade with the nostalgic image of a shirtless Lu Kang in his red headband painted onto the plastic on the side of the consol. Abe's fingers flew across the controls driven by a pattern he had long since memorized. 1 player, kombat mode, character select: Sektor the red cyborg, difficulty…it had been a while since Abe had played so he chose novice. Lists of moves and combos recalled themselves from deep in storage in Abe's memory, brought forth by the familiar flashing lights. His first opponent was Kung Lau, easy enough to beat if you avoided his hat. Luckily for Abe all he needed to pretty much beat anyone on novice was one good cheep move. The instant the blood red words 'FIGHT' flashed on the screen the catcher was ready. His left hand jerked the joystick to the left moving the red cyborg back a step. Abe repeated the motion once again the moment the joystick had returned to resting position and at the same time he mashed the low kick button. Sektor disappeared down past the bottom of the screen and came flying up fist brandished into a skyrocketing uppercut sending Kung Lau soaring to the other side of the screen. Before Sektor touched his feet to the ground Abe repeated the combo sending his character down off screen and then back up with another uppercut. It was an easy fight for Abe to win, especially with such simply tactics.

After a round of kombat ending with the words 'FLAWLESS VICTORY' Abe started the second round and in just seconds heard the familiar ding signaling that someone had low health. The whole time Mihashi had been standing next to Abe wide-eyed and gasping with every relentless combo the red cyborg pulled off. It was clear to the taller teen that Mihashi had little exposure to the game, validating his earlier hypothesis that Mihashi didn't frequent the video arcade often or else he would no doubtedly have come across such a popular game. So Abe decided to flaunt his nerdy side and pull off a memorized spectacle.

Only one more tap was needed from Sektor to finish off Kung Lau, a tap provided by one more of the cheap uppercuts. In the same bloody writing that signaled the start of the fight the words 'FINISH HIM' flashed across the screen, echoed by a menacing voice. Abe's fingers flashed off the complicated combination of forwards, backs, low kicks, hi punches, and other moves. His feat was rewarded by the familiar "den, don, dun," and blackening of the screen that signaled the combo was input correctly and in time. The red cyborg took a step back and out of his chest compartment came a large vice grip that was obviously too large to fit into the compartment. It extended out towards Kung Lau, who was swaying on his feet, until it stopped with one prong above and one prong below the computer's character. In a brief, computerized oversimulation the two prongs crunched down crushing the computer player spraying out blood, bones, and body parts across the screen. The words "FATALITY" appeared above the leftover body parts that were obviously randomly generated as shown by the multiple sets of arm and leg bones strewn in with the gore.

Mihashi's eyes were wide with shock. It was clear to Abe that the older teen had not seen anything of the sort before. The catcher paused for a brief second to make sure that his friend was still breathing, which he was, before Abe continued to the picture of Cyrax and quickly defeated the inhuman character clad in yellow. He cursed the computer character when it shot out his web from its chest cavity, ruining Abe's flawless victory streak. Soon enough Abe had won the match and was working his way up the ladder, occasionally pulling out a Fatality or Babality here and there. Abe let out a broad smile when the good grace of the game put him at The Pit and The Subway, allowing him to demonstrate his abilities by performing the specialized fatalities each stage possessed. The dark haired teen breezed past Montaro, a beast that earned an audible gasp from his smaller friend, and with little difficulty finished off Shao Kahn before stepping away from the consol.

"Here you go Mihashi; you take a try."

If it were possible Mihashi's eyes would have enlargened. "Y-you mean me?" He asked.

"Yep."

"But I'll lose," the pitcher complained.

"So?" Abe asked. "I didn't win my first time either. Just take a try."

"You'll laugh!" Mihashi protested.

"Ugh!" Abe groaned. "Just play Mihashi. I wont laugh or make fun of you in any way."

The timid teen stayed motionless. Abe shook his head and grabbed Mihashi's shoulders. "Here!" Abe exclaimed as he moved the smaller teen into place at the front of the machine. "This button is your high punch, this one's your low punch," he explained, gesturing to a set of blue buttons. "Low kick," he motioned to the red button set lower down, "and high kick. This is the joystick, and that white button's block."

Abe made a point to stay quiet. He didn't want to offer Mihashi any help because he wanted to pitcher to play for himself. He watched as Mihashi selected Sub Zero, the ice ninja.

When Mihashi's first match started against Night Wolf the pitcher let out a little cry of exasperation. "What do I do?" He gasped. The computer character was already next to Mihashi's character beating the ice nin into a pulp.

"Button mash, Mihashi," Abe replied. Sooner or later the pitcher would get luck and either pull off a hit combo or figure out one of the rather cool ice moves his character could perform. In a move of pure desperation Mihashi rubbed his hand over the two punch buttons and two kick buttons, literally mashing the buttons down with his palms. It was fast, it was funny, and it was pure n00b style, but with a little luck Mihashi beat back the computer and won the round and then the fight in general.

"Good job Mihashi!" Abe ejaculated as he patted his friend on the back.

Mihashi's smile spread wide across his face, exclamation the joy and excitement that burned in his eyes. The pitcher's breathing came to him in the short ragged gasps that came with the adrenalin of the fight and exhilaration of victory.

The tall dark haired teen stood back and watched as Mihashi used the same strategy against the next opponents, fighting closer and closer matchers. The winning streak extended all the way until he came up against Shiva, one away from the miniboss Montaro. At the end of two rounds it was a 1-1 split, Sheva having won the first round and Mihashi in a spectacular combination of button mashing and frantic joystick jerking pulling off multiple well-times ice clones and ice showers until he scraped out a victory. Unfortunately that's where the smaller teen's luck ran out. It was a close round but the four armed woman won out in the end.

"Th-th-that was am-amazing!" Mihashi yelped. "Thanks, a-Abe-kun."

Abe smiled a broad smile and congratulated his friend. For a first timer, Mihashi did spectacular.

"Wow you even suck at video games almost as much as baseball." The voice was hostile, deep, and full of contempt.

Mihashi spun around to look at the source, as did Abe. However, the boy who appeared to be the same age as the duo was completely unknown to Abe. But not to Mihashi.

"Ta-ta-ta..."Mihashi trailed off. "Tadashi-kun; wh-what are y-you doing he-he-here?"

'Not good,' Abe thought. 'Who the hell is this guy that has Mihashi so scared?' Abe sized up the unknown teen and Mihashi's reaction. Definitely not a good situation for the pitcher to be in. "Yo," was all Abe said verbally, choosing instead to clamp his hand on Mihashi's shoulder and draw him in close. Just by looking at this 'Tadashi' Abe could tell that he was not someone who was otherwise a pleasant person. He radiated hate and loathing like it was his job.

"So it's true," Tadashi scoffed. "You didn't return to Mihoshi. Kano and Hatake must be happy. Too bad I didn't stick around there; we could have actually been good now that you left. I hope to God that you're not still pitching."

It took Abe a moment to realize that his hand was shaking not because he was enraged; he was too stunned at this boy's hatred for that. Instead Mihashi was utterly quaking with fear at what appeared to be a former teammate from his middle school years.

"Can we help you with something?" Abe asked, his gruff voice doing little justice to the annoyance that was quickly mutating into implied threats.

The black haired Tadashi shifted his mouth into a cocky grin. "What," he said trying to act innocent, "can't a old friend say hello?"

Abe was glad that looks couldn't kill or else he would have a dead body on his hands. He did wish however that his looks could physically maim. This kid needed nothing more than a good dose of pain; something he was likely to get if he kept talking to Mihashi like this. "I think you hardly count as a friend."

"And what are you?" Tadashi shot back.

"His friend and teammate," Abe shot back while pulling Mihashi even closer.

Tadashi let out a hearty laugh. "Oh God, you guys must be horrible with a pitcher like Mihashi. I'm telling ya you'd be better off transferring to a different school if you wanna play baseball."

Abe glared at this new foe. For a brief second he imagined himself teleporting below the ground and coming back up in a powerful uppercut just like Sektor before quickly changing his idea to the vice grip fatality. If only.

Tadashi took Abe's silence as an invitation to continue ridiculing his former teammate. "Get ready to lose game after game if this guy ever starts."

"He's our starting pitcher," Abe shot back.

This earned another round of laughter from Tadashi. "HIM!" he nearly choked on the word.

Abe wished he had.

"Man you guys must really SUCK! What inning did they mercy you in?" Tadashi continued to rock with laughter as Abe felt himself shaking with rage. "Man, I bet he lost you the game like he did every one of ours in at Mihoshi."

That's all that Mihashi needed to hear. He was turned away from Abe during the unpleasant exchange but after hearing Tadashi implicate him as the result of the team's losses the pitcher lost it. Abe saw as Mihashi turned and ran out the door the tears that were openly flowing down the pitcher's face.

Once Mihashi removed himself from between the enraged Abe and his former teammate Tadashi Abe had clear path. While Tadashi was still enjoying the effects his ridicule had on his ex-teammate Abe closed the gap. With a right hook that would make Hanai proud he caught the still laughing Tadashi off guard and sent him into the Mortal Kombat III consol, noting with satisfaction the sound Tadashi made as he collided off Abe's old friend.

Mihashi had just left the video arcade by the time Abe started his chase. The only clue he had as to finding Mihashi was watching the pitcher take a right as he ran out the door.

Author's Note: Sorry for the lengthy description of Mortak Kombat III…it has to be one of my favorite video games of all time and probably my third favorite video game series and once the duo went into the arcade I had to put it in. I hope someone else is as big of a nerd as I am and knows even a little of what I'm talking about.


	9. Chapter 9

**Author's Note: Wow this story came out quickly. Please don't expect an update this quickly in the future. Enjoy my faithful readers!**

**Chapter 9**

Abe tried to race after Mihashi. He wandered how far the timid teen could run with tears in his eyes. The streets were still pretty crowded which would have made the panicked teen's flight difficult. Unfortunately the teen was nowhere to be seen.

The sun was starting to dip in the sky. It didn't occur to Abe how long he had spent in the arcade but looking at the sky he began to worry about Mihashi. He had a feeling that the timid teen wasn't familiar with the area which increased his anxiety. On top of it being late and in a part of town that he was pretty sure Mihashi didn't know, the boy was positively distraught. Abe didn't really know who this 'Tadashi' guy was, but Abe was pretty sure of two things: that he was Mihashi's former teammate from Mihoshi and that if Abe ever saw him again he would act out a few choice combos from Mortal Kombat.

Panic started to set in. Abe felt the familiar pressure crush his insides as he frantically searched for his friend. There was little he could do spare run around aimlessly and search blindly.

He was near the park now. It wasn't a big park, about the size of a city block, but it was enough to add an upscale finesse to the whole shopping district. A brief scan of the grounds shed no light on Mihashi's whereabouts. The dull constriction in Abe's chest started to intensify as if each empty park bench tightened the clamp's pressure another notch.

Abe was fairly sure Mihashi had run this way, although he couldn't be certain. It _was_ possible the smaller teen had taken a different turn. He was fairly confident that Mihashi was still in the area. The train station was the opposite way that Mihashi had ran and even then it would be very uncharacteristic for the pitcher not to find some place he could hide and privately shed his grief.

It occurred to the dark haired catcher that maybe Mihashi wanted to be alone. It would explain why he ran off, most definitely. But yet he could have ran off because he didn't want to break down in the middle of the video arcade. Whether he wanted Abe there for comfort was still a different matter.

But yet when Mihashi had broken down in their debut game against Mihoshi wasn't it Abe who gave the pitcher some comfort when he was confronted by Hatake? Surely Mihashi was at least somewhat grateful at what Abe had done, and the more he thought about it was definitely more than willing to do again however many times it took until the meek and timid teen learned that he had nothing to be afraid of. Not while Takaya Abe was there.

The cold air stung Abe's lungs as he gulped it down. He was in no way out of shape; not from a run as short as that. Instead it was the anxiety attack mixed with the frigid December air that left the catcher doubled over struggling to take a full breath to satisfy his oxygen starved body. The impaired catcher tried drastically to re-orientate himself; a feat made next to impossible with Abe's inability to close his eyes. Every time his eyelids met in the blackness he saw the worst horror movie ever created: the range of emotions that raced across Mihashi's face as he went from jubilation while playing the video game to shock at the comment to a terror Abe was sure he could never fully understand when Mihashi recognized the former teammate.

Out of pure exasperation mingled with worry Abe did a lap around the park never breaking stride. He was thankful that all of the rather long hours he put in for baseball conditioning were being put to good use. He didn't have to stop once in his search for his friend, although the effort was more or less wasted when Abe returned to his starting point with no success.

Not more than ten minutes had gone by since Abe followed Mihashi out of the video arcade but to Abe it seemed like hours and hours had passed. He began to feel the hopeless crushing sensation in his chest turn from an anxiety attack into a full fledged panic attack. His breaths started to become shorter and shorter until all he could do was gasp and clutch at his throat. The catcher was beginning to double over and knew that soon he would be balling his eyes out. He needed a place to hide from the public eye until he could regain himself.

Near the middle of the park was a clump of trees that in the summer would provide a nice big clump of shade. Abe saw this and, still hunched over holding his chest, slumped as fast as he could manage towards the trees.

A semi-silent sobbing greeted the tall dark haired catcher as he entered the mini forest. At first Abe thought that the sound was coming from himself; rationalizing that it would make perfect sense due to the tears that were now silently trickling from his eyes coupled with the short gasping breaths he was able to wheeze out. But the timing was off. This peculiar phenomenon informed Abe that he was not alone and prompted the catcher to survey the area.

Curled in a ball with his head tucked securely into his knees was, of all people, Mihashi. The smaller teen had his arms pulling his legs to his chest making the teen in his black jacket and black pants blend in with the shadows.

At the very least this stopped Abe from having to search for Mihashi. Unfortunately however despite having found his friend the crushing feeling of utter panic currently enveloping Abe's mind did not care. The catcher managed to reach his friend before he started to get dizzy from the lack of oxygen his all too shallow gasps left him with.

"Mi…ha…shi…" Abe gasped through shallow breaths. "There…you…are…" The tears slowly freezing in Abe's eyes made identifying the heap a little difficult, but when the curled up figure looked towards Abe the catcher knew he was correct.

Just like Abe, the pitcher was sobbing. Abe wanted with everything he had to feel relief that he had found his friend. Wanted to so badly but wasn't able to. The lockup in Abe's chest was exponentially compounded by the blubbering expression on Mihashi's face.

"A-a-Abe-kun…" Mihashi started. The pitcher tried twice to say something but stopped himself both times.

"Wha-what is it, mi-Mihashi?" Abe hiccupped.

"I'm sorry!" He yelped, setting off a loud onslaught of cries.

"Mi…ha…shi…" Abe fell to his knees gasping the pitcher's name. "You're…safe…" As he spoke the catcher reached out and set his hand on the smaller teen's knee.

A sudden spasm of longing raged through Abe's body. He knew himself that his attempt at trying to comfort the pitcher was pitiful at best. This brief contact, not even skin contact, was all Abe could do for his upset friend and that hurt him deep. He wished he could get over his panic and fear; just let everything else go and help his friend. Abe knew that he would be happy to take this pain five, even ten times worse if it would leave him now so he could comfort the trembling body below him. Couldn't his body even give him that? Just an hour or so?

But no, his body would not concede. As if the devil himself was in control of the situation Abe's body clamped down on itself even tighter cutting down Abe's already restricted airway.

Acting on reaction Abe balled his fists clamping down on a fistful of his own shirt and on the fabric of Mihashi's pants. His eyes, already choked up with tears, were now unable to see the pitcher in front of him. Abe's eyelids slid over the hazel orbs as he took even shallower breaths through his teeth.

Mihashi stared wide-eyed at his catcher, who was now all but curled up into a ball in front of him. His green eyes sparkled with tears as he watched the pain rip through Abe's face, unable to move. He unfastened the hand on his pants and pulled the arm into a tight hug, all of his previous fears vanishing at the sight of his strong friend now huddled over being crushed by unseen forces.

"A-a-Abe-kun!" Mihashi cried aloud. "Wha-what's wrong! Abe-kun!"

Abe felt the pitcher pull his arm tighter into Mihashi's chest. He wanted to speak; to tell Mihashi not to worry, to stop crying, that everything would be all right. But he did not and could not. Abe could not find the breath to say a word, and even if he could talk there was no way he could tell Mihashi everything was going to be fine because he himself did not know. He had never had a panic attack quite like this one. Abe was out of control. The only thing he could do is hope to ride this out; hope that sometime soon he would be able to breathe.

The seconds pretended to be hours as one by one they ticked off. Despite his best efforts at control it was still too much. Abe couldn't hold himself upright, even while kneeling and soon collapsed onto his side next to his friend.

This earned a new wave of panic and fearful cries from Mihashi. Abe really didn't want toe pitcher to worry. Whatever happened to Abe would happen. All that mattered to him was that Mihashi was safe. "Don't…worry…Mi-ha-shi," Abe grunted. "It's…just a…panic…attack I…get them…all…the time." Close enough to true.

Mihashi tightened his grip on Abe's arm. Any tighter and Mihashi would cut off the flow of blood to Abe's catching arm. "A-Abe-kun gets worried?" The pitcher asked. The surprise in his voice made the concept seem like an impossibility.

A smile twitched its way onto Abe's face but disappeared in the same instant, replaced once again by pain and fear. "All…the time. Es-especially when…thinking…" Abe didn't want to finish the sentence. Would Mihashi hate was Abe was about to say and run away again? Could Abe blame him if he did?

"Th-thinking about what, a-Abe-kun?"

Abe could only hear concern in his friend's voice but didn't know if it was worth it to risk himself. Mihashi might be on the slower side but even _he_ would be able to hear the implication in Abe's response. It was time for the black haired catcher to make a decision. On the one hand he could answer Mihashi truthfully and take the what had to be more than likely chance that the dirty blond haired meek pitcher would be disgusted in Abe, which would be completely understandable, and run away. Or the dark haired catcher could lie and forever be only a friend to the pitcher; nothing more than Suyama or Hanai or Sakaeguchi.

Abe was silent. Did he want to be special to Mihashi? Better yet did he _deserve_ to be special? Abe had hurt many people and there was no doubt in the catcher's mind that if everything worked out perfectly he would inevitably end up hurting his pitcher, his friend. This went way farther than simply baseball; although that did come into play in the catcher's thoughts. If the two remained friends then Mihashi's pitching would remain constant. If they became more than friends Mihashi's pitching wouldn't improve any; and if they broke up then it would without a doubt negatively affect the pitcher in many ways, including his performance on the mound. That little revelation was sure to doom Abe in the minds of his teammates.

And what would his teammates think? Those nine other individuals, Shinooka included, were brothers to Abe; a bit different than Takaya and Shun's relationship but just as strong if not stronger. Biologically the nine others and Abe were unrelated, but mentally they were one. The question was how would they handle knowing Abe was gay? That he was in love with Mihashi?

He knew instantly that Tajima would be furious. It was easy enough for the spastic third baseman to accept that Abe couldn't return Tajima's feelings because Abe was straight, a fact that Abe never claimed but the implication was there. It would make all the difference if Tajima knew Abe was gay too and rejected the third baseman because of who he was and not his orientation. And seeing how close Tajima was to Mihashi, practically brothers, having Tajima's scorn would not be a beneficial thing for Mihashi and Abe's relationship.

So how could he do this? What would be the best course of action to take? The dark haired catcher wondered whether or not he should deny his own feelings. If he went ahead with what he felt was right then he would have a long shot at best in being happy, and even _if _everything went well he would only have a 50/50 shot at best at not hurting Mihashi.

Yet if he didn't go with his feelings and instead did what his head told him was right, then all he would have to do is tell Mihashi a little lie. Things would be easier for sure, he could easily pretend to only like Mihashi as a friend. Sure it would hurt inside but Abe was sure he could live with the pain. It would be better than hurting Mihashi in any way.

Mihashi interpreted Abe's silence incorrectly. "A-Abe-kun….Abe-kun!" He exclaimed. The concern in the pitcher's voice burned Abe's insides. His lack of response was upsetting Mihashi.

"It's ok Mihashi." Abe was at first surprised at his ability to breathe and therefore his ability to speak. Apparently he had calmed down a bit. "It's just a…panic attack."

Abe rolled himself into a sitting position next to his friend. He could sense that there was going to be a long, personal talk and he wanted to be in a good position to comfort Mihashi.

So it didn't surprise the tall dark haired catcher when Mihashi's eyes grew big at Abe's explanation. "A p-panic attack? Abe-kun? But why?"

Now that his chest was loosening up Abe took advantage of his ability to actually have enough air to talk. He filled his lungs with the frigid air a few times before responding. Carefully he composed his face into a serene smile; something that would calm down the excited pitcher. "I get them every once in a while." Abe took another deep breath, unsure of when or if the ravaging paralysis would overtake him again.

"Why?"

Abe laughed to himself humorlessly. "You see Mihashi, I worry…a lot."

Mihashi blinked the remnants of the tears that had filled his eyes clear. "What does Abe-kun have to worry about? Abe-kun's good at everything."

It was a simple question followed by a simple statement. Instantly Abe's mind and heart raced along towards their goals that for the shortest time seemed to intersect. Both had a glimpse of a future shining brilliantly with Mihashi's light. But all too soon that light was extinguished when both organs were brought to their senses. There was no point in raising the hopes of their vessel.

Abe smoothed out his voice trying to make it as velvety and peaceful as possible. "About a lot of things, Mihashi."

"Like what Abe-kun?" The calming air Abe held around him was starting to affect the pitcher as well. He had stopped crying and as far as Abe could tell his breath was coming in an even rhythm.

"Well, I, um, had this one, um," the dark haired teen was tripping over his words, unsure of how exactly to phrase it. He wanted to let the smaller teen know that he was concerned for him but did not want to tip his hand. "Because you, ah, ran off and I couldn't find you. I thought that something might have happened to you."

What ever progress Abe thought he had made was completely nullified. As if he was on a timer Mihashi's eyes welled up again and a torrent of small sobs rained down.

"Mihashi, what's wrong?" Abe demanded.

In response the pitcher buried his face in his arms and curled back up into a tight ball.

Frustrated once again, Abe decided to try a more direct approach. What could it hurt? He composed himself and as gently as he could slid his hands around Mihashi's face cupping his soft cream colored cheeks. Abe was unsure of how the pitcher would react and after thinking about it a little he decided that he didn't really care. Abe, as gingerly as he could, lifted the pitcher's head out of his arms. "Mihashi," he murmured still in his velvet voice. "Please, you don't need to cry. What's the matter why won't you tell me?"

Abe stared into the pitcher's closed eyes; trying to will the shutters open with his mind. Mihashi never opened his eyes but instead talked without a break in the waterworks. "Be-hic-cause a-a-Abe-kun will get m-mad at m-me."

Abe tried one more time to will the pitchers eyes open. He wanted Mihashi to see Abe; to see the pain on the catcher's face, the torment that was building simply because Abe's pitcher, his friend, the boy he secretly loved, would not confide in him. Even if two or even one of the descriptions Abe had for Mihashi was shared by the smaller boy Abe hoped it would be enough for the pitcher to trust in his catcher. Abe hoped. "Mihashi," he started, having to work to keep his voice even. "The only thing that will make me mad," Abe took a deep breath relishing for a moment the chill taste of the air as it froze his lungs. "Is sitting here in the dark while you suffer. I don't care what it is, I want to help you. I _need_ to help you."

Mihashi still didn't open his eyes. Abe longed to gaze into the infinite depths of his friend and try to read for himself what the problem was. Anything that would give him some clue as to why Mihashi was hurting. "A-Abe-kun I, I…"

"Tell me Mihashi." Abe's voice was starting to betray the gruffness he was thinking about. It occurred to him too late to take his words back what connotation the harshness of his voice would have. "Sorry. I mean please Mihashi, please tell me."

The smaller teen started shaking. "But but but a-Abe-kun will be m-mad at me. I-I know it."

In his smoothest, most velvety voice Abe asked one more time. Mihashi was too stubern for his own good. "Please Mihashi. For me?"

Mihashi quieted his sniveling. Although Abe would have liked for the tears to stop as well he was happy with what he got. Hopefully the pitcher was dazzled enough by Abe to fulfill his one simple request.

"I-I'm sorry a-Abe-kun."

"For what?"

"For l-l-loosing the s-s-season for everyone!"

Abe's eyes narrowed. He had had this conversation before with Mihashi and had thought they had worked everything out. Apparently Mihashi still had some issues with his self confidence that he had been hiding from everyone else. "Listen, Mihashi," Abe started. He wanted to make sure that this would be the last time they had this discussion. "Baseball is a team sport and –"

But Mihashi cut him off. "No Abe-kun!" The ferocity in Mihashi's voice, the strength and spirit the exclamation made Abe reverse his judgment. Maybe Mihashi had grown a little, developed some self confidence. At least he could stand up to Abe. "Ta-ta-ta-Tadashi-kun was right. Everything that happened this summer was my fault."

Abe saw his chance and took it. "Mihashi tell me, do you remember the beginning of the summer; when we first met?" Mihashi now opened his eyes. Abe cringed at how bloodshot they were. He never wanted Mihashi to cry again, however tall of an order that might be.

The dirty blond pitcher nodded his head.

"Well Mihashi," Abe pressed on, "what did I tell you?"

It never ceased to astound Abe how Mihashi could change his moods so easily. The pitcher sat still curled up but with an almost comical expression on his face. "A-Abe-kun told me that, that he would learn my signals."

"What else," Abe prompted.

Mihashi furrowed his brow. "Um, that Abe would never get hurt so he could always catch for me."

"And why is that?"

"Because Abe-kun promised to play baseball with me!"

Abe cocked his mouth into a half smile. "Correct. Now Mihashi, what did I tell you about pitching? Remember when we played that three out game against Hanai? What did I tell you to do?"

Mihashi's eyes squinted into infinitesimal slits. Abe knew it was a long shot trying to get the pitcher to remember that far back, given his grades in school, but hoped that since it had to do with baseball the pitcher would remember. He was right on the money.

"A-Abe-kun told me…that all I had to do…was…pitch as he…told me to." Despite the slow droll of the pitcher's voice Abe knew after the first few words that Mihashi remembered.

The other side of Abe's mouth joined the first into a genuine smile that continued into Abe's eyes. "That's right Mihashi. I told you that all you have to do is pitch how I tell you to. That's it."

Abe waited until the pitcher showed some sign of understanding. "And so far, have you? Have you ever shaken off even one of my signs?"

Mihashi's answer was feeble but correct. "N-no, a-Abe-kun. I haven't."

Whether or not Abe saw the continuation of all the logic Abe didn't really care. He decided that either way it would be best to spell everything out for him. "Then if you are doing your job, then how can you be the one to blame? All you had to do was pitch like I told you. It was my job to keep you going in perfect condition, something I failed to do. I'm sorry Mihashi. Please forgive me."

Despite what Abe thought was soundproof logic Mihashi had a loophole. "No, NO! A-Abe-kun isn't to blame…for…this…"

"And why not Mihashi? We both agree that you aren't."

Mihashi was now back to full blown depression. "I, I should…have never…tried out…for the baseball team."

Abe couldn't help but scowl at this. The thought a Nishiura baseball team without Mihashi was simply ludicrous. "Mihashi, without you there would _be_ no baseball team. Hell, without you I'm sure that Hanai would have quit, then we'd only have had Oki and there's no way Oki would have been able to beat Tosei."

Mihashi shook his head. "St-still; I should ha-have just walked aw-away."

Abe put all of the emotion he could into his eyes and locked them on Mihashi's. "Mihashi, do you want to play baseball?"

"I-I do! I-I just think…that maybe a-Abe-kun…would like someone…be-better."

"Mi-ha-shi," Abe annunciated each syllable with articulate care. "I don't want anybody better. There _is_ nobody better than you."

Mihashi was the first to break the gaze. Abe saw that pain and frustration etched into his friend's face and, although he was telling the truth, hated himself for it. "A-Abe-kun, you d-don't have to be n-nice to me. I-if you want me t-to go away j-just say so."

Those words were unjust and uncalled for. Abe felt them gnaw on his edges of his heart. It ached for him to hear that Mihashi felt that way. Hadn't the meek teen ever considered that Abe did what he did because he actually liked Mihashi? Was Mihashi so unused to having a friend?

Abe positioned himself so that he was looking into the pitcher's eyes. How could Mihashi actually function in life if his reasoning is so disheveled as to think that Abe was only hanging out with Mihashi to be nice? "Please don't insult me like that Mihashi. I'm here because I _want_ to be. I want to be near you." Abe wasn't exactly ready but the mood around them was good. Snowflakes were silently drifting down from the heavens, the two had just spent the day together, and now they were alone in the park. Maybe a confession of love would enough to get through to the dense pitcher.

Enough time for one deep frigid breath was all Abe had to prepare. He had never actually gone through and confessed to someone; and Aizawa Mai never actually confessed either. She simply just pretty much threw herself at Abe with as much grace as the common chair. "Mihashi there's something I want to tell you." Abe wished for a little more time but had to go with it. "There's a reason why I worry about you so much. You see, I –"

He paused. Was he really ready to go through with this? Either way there was no turning back. "Mihashi I, I –"

But it still wouldn't come out. His mouth simply wouldn't form the words his heart was screaming. "Mihashi I –" he exclaimed out loud. 'Love you,' he finished in his head.

"You what, Abe-kun?" Mihashi was confused and for good reason.

Abe was still in shock. He wanted; he needed to tell Mihashi how he felt. But the moment had passed. Those precious few seconds that completely made the timing and the moment had passed. Now if Abe said anything important like a confession it would just seem awkward and ruin the mood. The catcher fought back the tears that started to build in his eyes.

He had to be strong, at least for now. Since there was already the awkward silence between them Abe decided to take a little more time to compose himself. A few deep breaths and a count to ten was all it took to get back his control. He replaced his injured pain riddled face with the calm façade he normally wore.

When he was ready the raven haired catcher spoke up. "I wanted to tell you how proud of you I am." It was in no way a lie. Abe was more proud than anything to simply know the pitcher let alone have the grace and fortune to build him up. As much as the catcher truly felt proud; more than anything he hated himself for not being able to tell Mihashi how he really felt.

The two continued to stare into the depths of each others souls through the windows of their eyes. Abe wanted to be hypnotized by the brown orbs again. He could see himself falling into their depths and divulging all of his deepest secrets. As much as he wanted to follow the magnetic hold drawing him through the gateways he could not. Some other mysterious force was repelling the hold the brown eyes of the pitcher had on his catcher.

Instantly Abe knew what it was; knew the reason why Mihashi no longer ensnared his soul every time he looked into the pitchers eyes, no longer sent electricity surging through his veins every time he touched the timid teen. Abe was still irrevocably in love with his friend. That much would never change. What had changed was in the relatively small yet intense moment of love the seeds of an epiphany formed in the catcher's mind that wouldn't come to fruition until after the moment had passed. There was no other reason Abe could see. The two were just not meant to be.

To use a word like fate or destiny seemed simply hokey; but that is exactly what the young catcher thought was standing in his way. Mihashi simply was not supposed to be with Abe. It was as absolute as the sun rising in the east. There would always be a chunk of Abe's heart that yearned for the pitcher. But as far as Abe was concerned the only one he would ever love would be Mihashi.

Abe watched as the life he wanted disappeared into the depths of the smaller teen's eyes. He saw Mihashi and himself graduating from high school, going off to college together, buying a house and living together as friends and lovers. As the last fleeting images of what would have been disappeared a new movie started playing. It was not so much a vision of the future, but more of a silent promise the raven haired teen was making to the meek pitcher. Abe saw it all. He saw himself tutoring Mihashi while in college; saw himself eternally jealous at Mihashi's wedding; buying a house just down the street from Mihashi; and always alone. Abe would never get over the pitcher, his heart told him that, but instead he would be there for the dirty blond ready to help and always thankful for the opportunity to be a part of his life.

"Mihashi," Abe said breaking the silence. His voice was alien to him. Instead of the stern husky voice of a teen in the midst of puberty Abe's voice was a rasping whisper. "How are you feeling?"

"I-I'm better, a-Abe-kun," Mihashi responded.

Abe smiled a fake smile. It felt pathetic but it was all he could muster. "Ready to go home?"

The pitcher nodded his head in the same violent jerking motion. For an instant the fake smile touched reality. Abe reached down and took his friend's hand, helping him up. Together they walked to the train station.

**Author's note: so what do you guys think of the ranting? Please…PLEASE let me know what you think of the story in particularly. I'm thinking of Americanizing it and hopefully *crosses fingers* turn it into a novel.**


	10. Chapter 10

So how's everyone doing? I hope you like this…I'll guess we'll call it angsty chapter. Please review and tell me what you think. There's a nice little twist in there so have some fun.

**Chapter 10**

His dragged Abe feet as he descended the stairs for the first time since the travesty with Mihashi on Saturday. The only reason why he left his room now was because he had to go to a week's worth of conditioning practice. Technically the school was on its winter break. The baseball team was not. Momoe had decided not to hold practice and to let the team have a bit of fun over the winter break. The captain and his seconds decided otherwise.

More than anything Abe wanted to skip practice; there was no way he could face Mihashi. The steely eyed teen was sure that the pitcher had no idea what Abe felt. That in itself was alright. What Abe knew would set him off was simply seeing Mihashi. He couldn't even face his parents or Shun for fear that they would question him about Saturday and he would loose himself. Once he got home Abe shut himself up in his room only leaving to go to the bathroom. Saturday night was spent morning the horrible string of events that made that afternoon into a contender for the worst day he had ever had.

Abe had cried during the night Saturday night. He was at first horrified to see the remnants of the salt water stained into the maroon of his pillow case but as he thought about what had happened the prospect of being so attached to the pitcher where he would actually cry over Mihashi gave him a bit of a thrill. At least he knew that he wasn't such an emotionless vessel, that he actually did have a heart. These feelings shortly subsided leaving Abe empty and cold inside. That cold stayed with him throughout the Sunday as he tried to reason with himself and work through the feelings.

It was almost too much for Abe to handle. Throughout the day Sunday he never got hungry enough to go down stairs and risk any sort of speculating questions from his parents. The majority of the grief had dissipated during the night only to be replaced with cold and unfeeling reasoning in the morning. He spent the day, empty of all emotion, in his room sometimes crying sometimes simply thinking about life and what his next move should be. By missing that one simple beat, his chance to tell the only person he truly cared about how he felt Abe had single-handedly cast everything into chaos. It was like he was piecing together some impossible puzzle on the verge of understanding the whole picture only to have it fall apart in his hands; so close to the answer and now so far away. Like all fifteen years of his life had to be redone.

Monday morning was more than dreaded. It was eight in the morning; he had practice at nine. Shun was over at a friend's house and his parents were both at work. It was placid in the house. As Abe ate breakfast he thought about the insurmountable task he had ahead of him and his hands started to tremble. How could he possible face Mihashi? As far as Abe knew the pitcher had no idea what happened on Saturday or why Abe was acting so weird. But still how could he possibly expect the pitcher to understand or even recognize the pain that had now drained Abe of his soul.

But like it or not sooner or later he would have to talk to the pitcher again. Abe owed it to the team to finish out his high school baseball career at Nishiura and there was no way he could do that without once talking to Mihashi. Even if by some horrid twist of fate Abe left Nishiura he could never catch for another pitcher. Once he caught for the timid and slow pitcher with godlike control everyone else was just a mediocre pitcher who could throw the ball fast. Besides, anybody else would shake off Abe's signs.

Then again Abe did not love anyone like he did Mihashi. And it just might be for Mihashi's own good that Abe would have to leave. Better hurt him a little now then a whole lot in the future.

With a heavy heart Abe was out the door by eight thirty. It was a fifteen minute walk at a quick pace would put Abe at the field meaning he would be about fifteen minutes early. The good part about being early was that there would be a great chance that he would have the entire walk to think of a coping mechanism for Mihashi. Thankfully it was only a conditioning practice inside the school's gym meaning that interaction with the timid teen would be limited.

The catcher's assumptions were right on the money. He was alone on the scenic walk but not the first to practice. One of the lockers already had clothes and a familiar deep blue bag stashed inside. Upon entering the gym Abe had his question answered. Izumi was running wind sprints on the basketball court. Abe leaned against the door frame leading to the locker room and watched the center fielder as he streaked from one side of the court to the other.

As he watched his teammate Abe began to think about Izumi. His speed had definitely increased since the end of the season let alone the beginning. Abe and Mihashi usually arrived a little late for morning conditioning because of their extra throwing practice. He never noticed how much extra conditioning Izumi put in to his practicing until now. Abe began to wonder how early Izumi would arrive to do his own conditioning.

While Abe was thinking about the center fielder said teen had noticed the taller catcher and stopped running. "Yo!" He called to Abe.

"Hey!" Abe called back to his teammate. "You're here early."

Izumi walked over to the drinking fountain next to Abe. The catcher studies his friend's face as he walked over. Izumi's expression had changed since he had stopped running and saw Abe making him wonder what could be on the center fielder's mind. "How's it going?" Izumi asked in a somewhat odd attempt at making small talk. Truth be told Abe was still rather uncomfortable speaking one on one with the speed demon after what happened at the end of the season in Shiga-Sensei's room. Every time Abe and Izumi spoke the catcher wondered if Hanai would pop out of nowhere and punch him again.

"Pretty good," was all Abe said.

That was also a drawback when talking to Izumi. He was a natural stoic and a man of few words. Combined with Abe's naturally quiet tendencies whenever the two spoke to each other the conversations were always short and to the point. Only once can Abe remember a conversation of any importance that was not more grunts than words, and just the memory of the event made Abe subconsciously rub his jaw.

The fact that Izumi had stopped his workout and was now facing Abe hinted to the catcher that the center fielder had something he wanted to say. Izumi came out swinging getting straight to the point. "So you and Aizawa-chan huh? How's that going along?" There was one plus to talking to Izumi; the topic at hand was never shrouded in small talk.

At first Abe was perplexed by this sudden question. To be honest he had not expected it at all. "What do you mean?" He asked, hoping that Izumi would elaborate on his question a little more.

But to Abe's surprise Izumi, for the first time since Abe had known him, looked uncertain of himself. As if his face wasn't enough to confirm Abe's thoughts Izumi's stuttering speech was a dead giveaway. "I, um, I was just curious. Just making sure everything was going well between you two; make sure you weren't fighting or anything."

"No we're not. Why do you ask?" Abe answered Izumi's question with his own more important question. He wanted to find out why Izumi was asking such weird questions.

"Well you're part of the team and Aizawa-chan's become part of the group now. I just wanted to make sure you and your girlfriend aren't fighting or anything that might divide the group."

He had heard that magic words. Izumi dropped the word "girlfriend" in his answer and that was all that Abe could focus on. "She's not my girlfriend," the catcher responded hoping to Izumi didn't notice the small pause. Abe could tell from the way Izumi was standing and facing the catcher along with the way the center fielder had brought up the topic of Abe and Aizawa that he had something important to say and was hoping for a specific outcome. Abe was pretty sure he knew where Izumi wanted this conversation to go, and if he was willing to take the chance and ask Abe he saw no reason to let his teammate have what he wanted. Instead of responding right away Abe started to chuckle a light and slightly mocking laugh. "There's nothing going on between us; we're just friends."

"Really? I thought that, well, after seeing you two…" he trailed off.

"Seeing us what?"

"Well, it's just that you two are together a lot and so I thought well…"

It seemed like Izumi had a habit of trailing off. Then again Abe never really had a reason to exchange more than a few words with his teammate. He pressed his lips into a thin line at the bitter memories he had with the bid breasted annoyance and then turned that line into a smirk at what was to come. "Na we're just friends I guess."

Izumi started to nod his head slowly. "Huh," he said flatly. His face betrayed nothing but his voice wavered slightly telling Abe there was more to the uncharacteristically long conversation.

The catcher waited. He knew that Izumi wanted some specific information besides the mindless banter and with time the speed demon would get to his agenda.

"So Abe, you don't have any feelings for her do you?" Izumi could not conceivably get any cooler as far as Abe was concerned. The way he simply went out and asked such a delicate question without hindrance made Abe envy his teammate's chill and sure persona. Instantly he wished that some of Izumi would rub off on Mihashi.

Thankfully the catcher was able to stop the awe from betraying his voice. "No," he said plainly. But it was not exactly the whole truth; Abe felt annoyance, some malicious intent, and other such general feelings directed towards Aizawa that he knew Izumi was not talking about. There was the chance that the smaller teen would hear the half truth in his voice. The more Abe thought about it and weighed his chances he couldn't help but feel the need to cover himself just in case Izumi decided to ask some unwanted questions. "We just don't really mesh."

"I see," the smaller stoic teen said. The look on his face told Abe that the center fielder was contemplating something.

He was silent as he waited for Izumi to speak again. As he waited Abe looked around the gym, noting with satisfaction that nobody else was around. After the first time he was still a little paranoid when talking one to one with Izumi. As he surveyed the gym Izumi finally said was Abe was waiting for, but in a way the catcher didn't expect. Izumi leaned away from Abe as he spoke as if trying to avoid the steely eyed teen like he had some contagious disease. "Anyway, would it be cool if I asked her out? If not don't worry about it. I just wanted to check with you to make sure you were fine with it."

"Why would I mind?" Abe asked.

"I just want to make sure that things are cool between us. If you feel like it's too soon or were going to ask her yourself then or for some reason don't want me to ask her then that's cool too."

Despite expecting this it still surprised Abe; he never thought Izumi would actually _ask_ Abe if it was alright for him to go out with Aizawa. "No Izumi I don't mind at all. Good luck man I hope you two are happy together; I really mean that."

"Hope who's happy together?" Mizutani asked.

"Izumi's going to ask Aizawa out," Abe replied, not thinking about the conversation's privacy. Hopefully Izumi wouldn't mind. There were precious few secrets on the team.

Mizutani raised a solitary rust colored eyebrow. "And you're fine with that Abe?"

"Yeah why wouldn't I be?"

"Well aren't you and Aizawa-chan kinda dating?" Mizutani asked with genuine curiosity in his voice.

Was it possible that everyone thought they were dating? Abe wondered how seemingly everyone missed the not-so-subtle queues. "No, there was never anything that strong between us. If Izumi wants to go out with her then I wish them both the best."

No emotion played out over Izumi's face but Abe found it hiding in his voice. "Thanks Abe, that really does mean a lot."

More voices from the locker room told the trio that the rest of the team was arriving and since Abe was in support of Izumi the decision was not exactly a team affair and therefore they didn't have to know about it right away. If she said yes then they'd hear about it sooner or later anyway. Abe split off from the doorway and tried his best to hide among the group. He was hiding from Mihashi. Abe knew that if he was to talk to his friend, even get near him then weak glue holding Abe together would dissolve unleashing the emotional sinkhole that had incapacitated the catcher since Saturday night.

The gym echoed with the pants and groans of ten teenagers pushing their bodies to the max. Abe was thankful that the practice was pure conditioning which meant little interaction in the form of conversation. He did his best to hide from Mihashi in the crowd. Their captains put the team through rigorous exorcizes quickly turning the sleepy teens into completely exhausted bodies at the brink of collapse. For one long and strenuous hour half the group sprinted in intricate patterns set out in plastic orange cones precisely set up on the parquet floor while the other half jogged around the perimeter. At the hour mark the two groups took a break and then switched for another hour.

Once the team was completely and thoroughly drained of all energy Hanai called practice to an end. The largest teen surveyed his friends and noted with satisfaction how they, like he, could hardly stand let alone keep their eyes open. "Alright!" Hanai called out after blowing the shiny whistle dangling on his neck. "That's enough!"

Both groups joined him in the middle of the gym crumpling to rest on the floor. The tired and wasted eyes of the ten teens spoke volumes towards the team's enthusiasm and conditioning.

Hanai's glee at what Abe presumed to be both a well run efficient practice and the prospects of a three week break from school was smattered across his face. "We had a good practice today everyone. Same thing tomorrow and the rest of the week."

This earned Hanai a loud protest of moans and groans from his teammates.

The tallest teen held up his hands in hopes to quiet the crowd. Barely a moment passed before the displeased group gave in to either Hanai's request or their own tired bodies and quieted down. "Next week is Christmas so you'll have the whole week off. If you guys need to miss for some reason, _family related _Mizutani," Hanai glared at the idiot left but continued, "make sure you give me a call or send me a mail."

Nishihiro raised his hand. "I have a question."

Hanai raised an eyebrow to Nishihiro's still-to-be-asked question. "We're not in class Nishihiro; go ahead and shout out your question."

"Yes sir Hanai-Sensei," Nishihiro said without breaking stride.

This response earned a "smartass…" from Hanai along with chuckles from those still awake enough to hear the exchange.

Nishihiro continued as if the big captain had said nothing. "What about this week? What if we need to leave this week?"

Hanai thought about it for a minute. To Abe there was nothing to think about, and after he moment of thinking Hanai agreed. "If you need to leave this week just let me know and it won't be a problem. But let me ask, does anyone need to leave this week?" Nobody raised their hand. "Good," Hanai continued, "then I'll expect you all at practice every day this week same time."

The group groaned again but with more enthusiasm due to their rest.

"Fine, fine, we'll see how things play out this week. If we have good practices for the next few days I might give you guys a long weekend; but no promises."

A half hearted cheer greeted this proposal. Nobody particularly wanted to practice over their break and if a short week meant extra effort they were all willing to give all they had.

Once Hanai was done with his attempt at a motivational speech Abe scrambled into the locker room determined to change and leave as fast as he could. He didn't even look at Mihashi as he stumbled in at the end of the pack. Abe ignored everyone around him, focused on getting out. As he jetted out the door he almost ran over a surprised Sakaeguchi midway through asking a question.

That night Abe got a rather unexpected and awkward phone call. He was reading in his room in the twilight hours of the night waiting for sleep to overtake him. It caught Abe by surprise when his mobile went off. He was use to three chimes notifying him of a new mail. He was not, however, suspecting the shrill monotone 8-bit sound byte that was his ringtone. Abe hardly ever actually got an actual phone call making him wonder why he even had the service to begin with.

The small LCD screen on the front of the phone made Abe sigh. He was use to Aizawa calling him. When that got annoying he stopped answering the phone and she started sending him mails. Nobody bothered to call him any more.

He was skeptical when he saw the caller id but he answered anyway.

"Oh my god Abe-kun guess what!"

Aizawa's silence told Abe that much to his disappointment he was supposed to follow along in the conversation. "What?" He made a face at his voice. He couldn't keep all of his apathy for just about anything regarding the girl out of his voice.

But apparently she didn't hear it. "Izumi-kun just asked me on a date tomorrow night!"

Abe had to switch the phone to his other ear. She had just shrieked the deafening words that could actually peak his interest and now he actually wanted to be able to hear the story. "Congrats!" He answered with more enthusiasm than he could ever remember having when dealing with his classmate. "Where are you two going?"

She paused, catching Abe in suspense. "Well," she huffed, obviously not wanting to answer Abe's quandary.

"Well what?"

"I kinda told Izumi-kun that I'd have to get back with him. Then I sorta hung up." Before he even registered what she said Abe took note of her voice. Lighthearted chagrin laced her voice, sounding almost like someone who was caught in a fib. Normally Abe would not have minded what she did so much but an unexpected surge of camaraderie flared making Abe want to back his friend.

The only trouble was that he didn't know what to say to build up Izumi; so he said the only thing he could think of. "Why? Don't you like Izumi?" With all his heart Abe wished she did. He wished and hoped and pleaded that his teammate and this girl would be happy together, become high school sweethearts, get married and grow old together. He was not jealous in the least bit; instead only wanting these two to be happy.

Aizawa must have heard the absolute innocence in Abe's voice. The absoluteness of his sincerity was obvious even to Abe. Couldn't she tell that he was _glad_ that he had confessed to her? "I," she faltered, her voice perceptively and surprisingly gentler than if she was confident in her answer. "I do like him, I really do. I just hoped that maybe, maybe you might…" She trailed off not bothering to finish what they both knew she was going to say.

Abe knew what she wanted. The word 'subtle' had no meaning to the female. What was even more astonishing was that she, after so many rejections, still entertained the belief that Abe had any lingering attachment towards her. Despite having a lightened heart the magnitude that this very conversation had on a particular center fielder colored his voice. Without his command Abe's voice matched the depth and severity of Aizawa's. He finished her sentence. "Might have any lingering attachments to you."

"Yes." Her voice was but a whisper now, and if Abe hadn't heard the sound through his phone he would have assumed it was a mere breeze stirring the pillars of dust in his room.

It did not surprise the steely eyed teen that she would still have feelings for him. It was after all an unrequited love and she was bound to keep trying until she either got sick of his rejection or entertained a different fancy. What caught his attention was the fact that she was willing to hold out on Izumi simply to have one last go at what they both knew deep down was a lost cause. Abe didn't know what to feel at this. Should he feel awed at her tenacity? Shocked at her brutality towards Izumi? Indifferent at the matter? Or could he suffice at holding onto the briefest twangs of a superiority and self satisfaction at knowing that it was _he_ whom she chose first, it was _he_ that she wanted, and it was Izumi that she was settling for?

But what good would these feelings do for him spare tell him that he could once again feel? He needed not any simple gratification that a sense of superiority would give him. He knew that she was not a brutal person, instead that she had like a true dreamer hoped to win over the center of her affections; and like a tragic princess found only a shattered heart where her dreams had been.

Abe inhaled deeply, letting the taste of the air play across his tong. He took two more of these deep breaths before he spoke. "Aizawa-chan I'm going to say this as plainly as I can." There was no avoiding pain at this point. No matter what Abe said he was going to hurt her. Now he could only attempt to dull the pain. "I feel no affection for you. The chances of us ever getting together are zero." Abe winced internally as he spoke. His voice sounded to him much harsher than he wanted it to. He was very annoyed that she had tried to create some sort of connection between them, sometimes taking things to unnecessary extremes. But still, Abe didn't want to have any bad blood between them. "I want us to stay friend no matter what happens between us."

"Me too." Aizawa's sad voice twanged inside Abe's mind. "I'll always be here if you need me."

Abe didn't like where she was going. He wanted things to end on a good note between them and he wanted it to end fast. Instead of continuing with the somber mood of the conversation he decided it was best to cut her off there. "But I think that it's rude to keep Izumi waiting. Give him a call and tell him how you really feel. I think that if u call him soon he'll forgive you." Abe lightened his voice for the last part of his monologue. He really did not want to have this discussion with Aizawa no matter how happy he was that she was finally going to leave him alone and instead go out with Izumi. The raven haired catcher did not want any ill will between himself and his friends and by leaving Aizawa in a good mood he all but ensured that she and Izumi's conversation would go smoothly.

"O…Ok," She agreed.

"Hey Aizawa-chan, let me know how things turned out. I'll talk to you later." With a last ditch effort Abe added a hopeful and somewhat sincere uplift to his voice.

"Yeah, ok." She hung up leaving Abe with his thoughts. Abe was glad that they would hopefully get together. He definitely needed something happy to keep him from going insane with pessimism.

Since the conversation had ended and Abe had nothing else to do, he returned to his book.

On Tuesday morning Abe arrived early once again to find Izumi running wind sprints before the official practice began. Once the smaller teen saw Abe he stopped his workout and made his way over, his already tired body dripping with sweat and exhaustion.

Abe wanted to ask how Izumi did it; how he not only gave his all during practice but added in extra beforehand. Instead he tried to act like nonchalant. "Yo. How's it going?"

For the first time Abe saw a side of the cool and intense center fielder he thought didn't exist. Before he said a word the goofiest tooth riddled smile erupted across Izumi's face. "Guess what?"

Only one thing could make Izumi into such a big buffoon. Abe knew exactly what it was but decided to act like he had no idea. "What?"

"I talked to Aizawa Mai last night."

Abe was not very skilled in acting, but it was enough to fool Izumi. He spread his eyes as wide as he could and filled his face full of surprise. "Did you tell her? What did she say?"

Izumi let out a nervous chuckle from deep in his throat. "She, ah, she scared me at first. I was nervous as hell but after I told her she was happy. Shocked me when she said that she had to go though before she told me yes or no."

"What happened then?" Abe asked. He was wondering how Aizawa had recovered from the awkward call back.

"I was thinking that she didn't feel the same about me and wanted a reason to hang up. But I was overjoyed when she called me back and told me that she felt the same way."

"Why did Aizawa-chan hang up in the first place?" It was a question that Aizawa herself hadn't answered when Abe tried to ask her in a subtle manner.

Izumi scoffed at a private memory. "Her mobile died and so she had to find her charger and plug her mobile in before she could call again. And to think I was worried that she didn't want to tell me something. I was _sure_ she was calling someone else."

The taller teen laughed nervously at his teammate's musings. "But everything's fine now?"

"Going out to eat and to a movie tonight. Figured the whole 'dinner and a movie' thing wouldn't be too bad for a first date."

"That's a good idea," Abe agreed. "Never hurts to play it a little safe on the first date."

Loud noises in the locker room told the duo that soon they would no longer be having a private conversation. Instead they decided to put the talk on hold and get ready for the practice.

By the end of practice he had mostly forgotten about Izumi's victory only to return to his cold self. He was numb, unfeeling, alone, and completely scared of it all. At home he tried to act normal. If someone spoke to him he would answer. Life began to feel like the beginning of the season all over again. After everything that he went through with his team he began to feel like he was a stranger to them. Even his own family started to look foreign to him. How could they possibly understand anything that he was going through? He had nobody to talk to about his problem, nobody that he trusted enough to talk to.

As the day past he started to think about his future. The life Abe had planned for himself being with Mihashi was now but a pleasant memory. Instead he debated with himself whether he should follow his new plan and stay as close to his friend as he could or try to sever his ties with Mihashi after high school and try to start out anew. By the time he went to bed Tuesday night he was no closer to the answer then when the problem first showed itself.

Like most days Abe did not want to go to practice on Wednesday. His eyes were red from lack of a restful sleep. In the kitchen he found no sign of life despite knowing his parents had both been up and gone to work. Only Shun was at home with Abe and he started to resent half heartedly his brother's sleep. A malicious plan crossed the steely eyed teen's mind but he disregarded it immediately. Why should he ruin his brother's sleep while Abe spend another restless night tossing and turning?

Hanai made the announcement at the end of Wednesday's practice. The broad smile on his face betrayed his intention before his mouth could form the words. Abe had a faint suspicion as the captain spoke that whether or not the team had a particularly dedicated set of practices he would give the team Thursday and Friday off and have them resume Monday January fourth. Everyone let out a whoop of excitement. They had two and a half weeks of no practice and no school ahead of them. This troubled Abe. He wondered what he could do to both avoid his family and keep himself sane.

The prospect of having their first break from baseball since the beginning of the season gave the ten teens more energy than they normally had after practice. A few of the jokers, Tajima and Mizutani in particular, jokes and chased each other while everyone walked into the locker room. Once everyone was together in the locker room Sakaeguchi lagged back by the door. He waited just long enough for everyone to settle down but not long enough for too many to start undressing before he made his announcement. Abe eyed the second baseman, reading the stress and anxiety plain on his face before his spoke. He was nervous. The catcher chuckled as he thought about what the second baseman's nerves did to him. He wondered if Sakaeguchi needed to use the toilet. "Hey guys, my dad is taking my little brother out of town to my aunt and uncle's house for the Christmas holidays. It's just going to be my big sis and I at home and she said would be fine for everyone to come over for a Christmas party on Christmas eve. Anyone interested?"

A chorus of "sure" and "ok" affirmed the team's presence; except for Abe. He was ambivalent in his decision. On the one hand it would be nice to go out with the team. It would allow him to hopefully rekindle some of the old fires of friendship that he felt withering. On the other hand Mihashi would be there and it would almost definitely mean he would have to talk to his pitcher and, worst case scenario, would have to explain why Abe was acting so weird. The deciding factor came from the fact that Abe did not want to spend Christmas at home and this would give him an excuse to get out of the house. Before the end of the storm of affirmation ended Abe threw in his own acceptance.

Sakaeguchi visibly calmed now that the team accepted his invite. "I'll send u guys a mail with more information. I just wanted to see who all was interested."

Abe kept his eye on Sakaeguchi checking to see if his intuition paid off. As expected the second baseman, once finished with his presentation, made a beeline for the bathroom and quickly shut himself into a stall. Abe had to put his hands over his mouth to stop himself from laughing out loud. If Sakaeguchi could not make an announcement in front of ten of his teammates how was he able to give a presentation to a class?

Just like on Monday and Tuesday Abe changed as fast as he could and was out of the locker room before everybody else. A pang of pain and another emotion Abe couldn't quite identify. It felt something like longing mixed with nostalgia and it ached unlike anything the teen had ever felt. Only once did he look back at the school and in that moment the agony raked at him. That was that last time he looked back on his way home. He didn't run home, there was nothing there that Abe really wanted at the moment. He did stop at home, enough to take a shower and change his clothes, but he didn't stay there. Abe didn't know where he was going. Instead he obeyed the compulsion in the pit of his stomach and set out for a walk in the snow.

So what does everyone think? Please review!!!


	11. Chapter 11

**Well here's chapter 11. Only a little surprise in there for ya. I don't know when I'll update next but please be faithful and review.**

**Disc. I unfortunately do not own Ookiku Furikabutte (except for the twisted offspring I am working on that is legally different from the anime/manga characters). *sigh***

**One more thing…if you see any names that don't fit, please notify me but keep reading. I may or may not have thrown in some of my Americanized character's names.**

**Chapter 11**

The snow in the park was wet and sticky. It had warmed up today, not enough to melt the snow but enough to slick the pavement with slush. Abe watched a pack of kids have a massive eight on eight snowball fight for just over half an hour. As he gazed upon the war Abe couldn't help but remember the playful bout he had had with Mihashi only days before. This memory of the early part of the day was streaked with bitter longing and sweet joy. Abe let his memory play out in his mind's eye forgetting about the kids. This proved to be a mistake as the battle drew near the bench he was sitting on. The steely eyed teen was immediately brought back to reality when a stray shot missed its smaller target hiding behind Abe's bench and instead pummeled the catcher in the chest.

The kid who hit Abe, noticeably larger than his target, regarded the teen as part of the landscape. Instead of apologizing to him the kid reloaded and sent another volley at the other boy cowering behind the bench.

Instead of getting mad a broad smile crept across Abe's face. "Hey, you want some help?" He whispered to the kid still hiding behind the bench.

"Sure," the kid whispered back.

Abe dug his hands into the heavy powder at his feet. He formed two perfectly round snowballs and held one in each hand. After waiting for another volley Abe and the cowering kid both responded in a combined attack. On Abe's command he and his new friend both hurled snowballs at the enemy. The smaller kid's shot missed his target but ever true Abe scored a direct hit in his foe's chest.

"Hey no fair!" The bigger kid called.

"Why not?" Abe asked with real mirth in his voice. "I'm just getting even."

The boy's movement was slow and predictable. He quickly bent down, hastily made an ill-formed snowball, and threw it at Abe.

With a smile Abe held out his hand and blocked the projectile. With his free hand he snagged the other snowball he had saved and hit the kid again the chest. "You want some of this?" He taunted.

Abe caught the last twenty minutes of the snowball fight. By the war's end he was wet, exhausted, and hungry. By lunchtime Abe was cold and wet but he had more fun than he had since Saturday. The memory of Saturday weighed heavily on his heart. He was hungry but he wanted to go somewhere that wouldn't remind him of Mihashi. Abe still had no answers for his future and wanted to put off the task for as long as he could.

Clearing his mind Abe decided on where he wanted to go. He was cold so he wanted something warm; and he was starting to get hungry so some food was also in order. Bordering the park on the far edge was the start of the tourist-focused downtown. This particular section of the city was well taken care of. All the houses in the area had fresh clean paint on them. The shops were small and quaint with more of a folksy appeal than the larger chains that inhabited the rest of the city. The area was meant as a destination for shopping and culture instead of a practical place for the locals to shop. This appealing atmosphere did however draw in a large local crowd. The small cafés, while rather pricy at times, were a standard for and always filled with couples. The very edge of the downtown perimeter bordering the park was a sequence of mom-and-pop flower shops, small cafés, sweet shops, and trinket stores with local wares. In the summer the very park where Abe stood was transformed on the weekends into a bazaar of local farmers and housewives selling their goods in a farmer's market of rather epic proportions. Nobody he knew went to any other market to buy their vegetables in the summer.

But in winter with nature's icing covering everything in a swath of white the park was filled with snowmen and snowball fights, snow angels and snow forts. The patios and sidewalks facing the park was devoid of its traditional summer occupants, most of whom seeking comfort within the warm walls of the shop.

Wednesday afternoon in the middle of winter was not exactly the prime time to go on a date. As Abe neared the shops enough to see in their windows he saw that for the most part they were pretty empty. Some of the more prominent cafés had some of the lunch rush but most of the locals chose to eat at some of the cheaper chains dotting the business district of down town. The café he stopped at was not the flashiest place on the street. Compared to some of the boutiques this place was downright dank; but that was what made the food at dives like this good. Sometimes the homiest places served the best food.

It was something new. The shop was dimly lit; the lights turned down low allowing the natural sunlight to filter in through in the windows. The shop reminded Abe of his favorite Ramen shop. There were only a few tables lining the walls of the rather cramped shop. A refrigerated counter with a cash register at the far end cut through the room separating the cozy sheik customer area from the polished stainless steel bakery side. To the left was a wall with a few coolers full of various soft drinks and juice while on the right behind the counter was a large espresso machine. Abe was transfixed by the quaint bakery. The smell of coffee was thick in the air, and while Abe never really drank the stuff it would be the perfect warming pickup he needed.

The girl at the counter had a pleasant smile. "Hi welcome to Mein Koffee what can I get for you?"

Abe examined the contents of the chilled case. Tarts, kuchen, and cakes of every kind were on display showing off the brilliant and vivid colors of the berries and custard and cream. "How about one of those," Abe said gesturing at a personal sized pie filled with strawberries in an egg custard with clotted cream on top. Only then did he see the sign saying "Strawberry Delight" identifying the dish.

"Will that be all?" The cashier asked.

He thought for a second. He really wanted something warm and while Abe did not drink coffee he thought it might be a good time to try some. The list of coffee drinks was a foreign language to the catcher. "I'll try some coffee," he said, "but I have no idea what any of this means. What's a la-tea?"

"Latte," she corrected him.

"Yeah that."

She smiled. "A latte is a drink made up of steamed milk, espresso, and your choice of flavorings."

He knew two out of the three things she mentioned. "And what exactly is espresso?"

"Espresso is a…well more concentrated form of coffee. Stronger but in a smaller dosage."

It sounded good enough. He read over the list of drink specials and the list of flavorings the café offered. Some like 'Pumpkin Spice' sounded disgusting; others like 'Irish Crème' were simply a mystery to him. Since he could not imagine what anything tasted like except for the obvious flavorings such as 'Strawberry' and 'Hazelnut', Abe asked the cashier. "I'm cold, need something hot, and have no idea what I'm doing. What would you suggest?"

She thought for a moment which to Abe was a good sign. It meant that she was seriously considering everything before just throwing out a suggestion. It made him accept her decision more readily. "How about a Schmeckeldwarf?"

"Schmeck…what?"

"It's steamed milk with espresso, chocolate, mint, and topped with clotted cream."

Everything sounded good. The mint was a little dicey but she suggested it and Abe trusted her decision so he went with it. "Alright. I'll have a small one of those and the cake thing."

"Thank you," she said. "Here's your Strawberry Delight and I'll bring your drink out in a moment.

Abe paid for his rather sweet lunch and scanned the room for a preferable seat. It was slightly chilly in the café, enough for Abe to take notice even with his sweatshirt on. A seat near the windows with the mid-day sun would suffice in warming the teen up to comfortable levels.

As he scanned the room Abe saw something that simply confused him. Sitting in a corner booth well out of the way was Tajima, but he was not alone. He was sitting with a black haired girl Abe recognized as Hikari Sakura and the two looked quite comfortable enjoying the quaint, almost romantic atmosphere.

Instantly Abe regretted his decision to eat in the shop. Why Tajima was with this girl was none of Abe's business. So what if he was supposed to be gay but happened to be on a date? Tajima was his own odd, if not completely crazy character but Abe was not his keeper. The two were leaned in close talking in low voices to each other. Abe felt confident that Tajima would not be able to see him if he left quietly.

But the universe felt the need to shatter even the tiniest of his plans. The girl behind the counter was rather loud in giving Abe his drink, thanking him with more enthusiasm than was necessary before handing him his drink and lingering her hand on the mug in a way that was obvious she wanted to brush hands with him. Her flirting wasn't as ostentatious as Aizawa-chan's had been, but it was enough to make Abe take notice.

He quickly thanked the girl and had made it half way to the other side of the café when Tajima spotted his teammate. "Oi! Abe! How's it going man?"

Abe was embarrassed. Granted the shop was empty spare himself, Tajima, Hikari, and the two girls behind the counter but still, it was all in principle. A body was not supposed to shout at the top of their lungs in shop, let alone one the size of a classroom. Abe would have heard Tajima just fine if he would have simply spoken.

The catcher turned around and acted surprised as if he didn't know the third baseman was in the shop as well. "Oh hey Tajima what are you doing here?" Feeling the social pressure Abe took his food and stood over at the couple's table. As he stood there he wondered if couple was the right word for them. There were two of them and they were together at the moment.

"Take a seat Abe, come join us," Hikari beckoned.

Abe did as he was asked and sat down next to Tajima. He was closer and he would feel more awkward sitting close to a girl he didn't really know compared to the guy who had a crush on him. At least the two guys were clear about their relationship with each other. He decided to speak first to hopefully direct the conversation the way he wanted it to go. "So what are you two doing here?"

"Oh we're on a date," Tajima said nonchalantly.

Abe expected this but still he couldn't believe it, not after the smaller teen came out and confessed to Abe. Tajima being on a date with a girl was just too foreign for Abe to comprehend.

To Abe's surprise Hikari started laughing at this. "Oh Yu-chan quit kidding around."

Abe felt better now that he knew that Tajima was kidding around. The third baseman always had a smile on his face so it was hard to differentiate the truth from a joke. But if these two were not going out then what were they doing sitting in a semi-romantic café talking in rather hushed voices to each other?

"Saku-ra!" Tajima moaned stressing the third syllable turning it into a whine. "Don't call me by that stupid childhood nickname."

So these two were childhood friends. That made a little more sense but they could have chosen a different place to converse; unless they had some attachment to this place like Abe had toward Furkiawa's that is.

"No Abe, Hikari was just giving me some advice, strictly speaking."

Hikari laughed a menacing laugh. "Yeah what can I say, I always end up helping Yuichiro out with his guy troubles. He's lucky I'm such a nice cousin."

This answered a lot of questions for Abe, but also raised a few. Since he initially turned Tajima down months ago Tajima had not hit on the catcher at all. Yet he was having guy troubles of some sort that he felt he had to talk over with his cousin.

"Like what?" Abe inquired. He was curious who Tajima was infatuated with now. Plus a little bit of gossip would do a great job taking Abe's mind off of the stress he was under. Loosing himself in someone else's problems would take his mind off his own nicely.

"N-nothing, it's nothing. Nobody you would know." That told Abe that it was someone he did know.

"Aw come one Yu-chan you can tell me," Abe coaxed. He waited for Tajima either to tell him his guy problems or tell him off for using his cousin's nickname by taking a sip of his latte.

"It's nothing Abe you don't need to worry about it. You have enough on your mind."

Abe was perplexed by this answer so he inquired further. "What makes you say that?"

Tajima cocked his mouth into a half smile. "You've been different since the day after your birthday. This whole week at practice you hardly talked to anyone and took off as soon as you changed. You haven't spoken a word to Mihashi all week."

Danger flashed in Abe's mind. This was not what he needed to talk about, especially with Tajima. Abe did not know if he could trust the third baseman to keep a secret and to be honest did not know if he wanted to test the waters with something as important as this. "But that's beside the point." Abe blew off the accusation with a casual flick of his wrist. "Tell me about your guy troubles. Who is it? Is it someone on the team?"

Hikari spoke up. "I'm surprised you don't know, Abe-kun. It's –"

But she was cut off by Tajima who threw a piece of the crust of his tort at his cousin. Abe looked over once he saw the food hit the girl and caught the last glimpse of something he had never seen: a super serious death glare coming from Tajima. This was enough to quiet the giggling girl down.

As she caught her breath and regained herself a monotone melody erupted from the bag next to her. "Oh, my mobile. Hold on a second guys."

Tajima and Abe stayed quiet as the girl mumbled into her phone. After only a few seconds she hung up and looked up at the boys, an apologetic look on her face. "Sorry guys but I gotta take off; my mom needs some help at home." She bade the two boys goodbye and did the same with the two girls behind the counter, calling both of them by name before she vanished out the door.

Abe was first to break the silence. "So I didn't know that Hikari was your cousin," he commented off hand.

"Mmm," Tajima grunted in a fashion that would have suited Mihashi but never belonged on the cheerful third baseman's face. He had single handedly turned the atmosphere of the shop from that of quaint and romantic into resembling a funeral home.

This upset Abe. Something was seriously wrong with his smallest friend. "Come on Tajima, what's wrong?"

"Nothin' Abe don't worry about it."

Tajima's lie hurt to hear. "That's alright. I respect that you don't want to tell me. But just remember that I'm here if you need to talk."

The duo sat in silence. Abe couldn't think of anything he wanted to talk about so he said nothing. Instead he finished his Strawberry Delight and sipped his latte.

It didn't take Tajima long to break under the silence. When he did speak his voice was full of pain and sensitivity. "It's just that, well…" He trailed off unsure of how to continue. So he restarted. "It's just that, you see, I still care about you."

"Oh," was all Abe said. He definitely did not want to talk about this now. He had been so sure he was clear with Tajima that Abe didn't return the third baseman's feelings.

"No Abe just listen, you said you would. I care about you, I really do; and I know that you don't feel the same about me but I still want the best for you. Yet since your birthday you have been, well, devastated."

"What do you mean?" Abe lied. He knew exactly what Tajima was talking about and frankly he was more than shocked to hear that the sporadic teen with not tact had read Abe enough to figure this out.

Tajima looked at Abe. It was clear from the expression on his face that Abe's lie had as little footing as Tajima's had earlier. "Come on Abe. I'm not that stupid. When we were at your birthday party you were happy. Yet on Monday morning you looked like the walking dead. Something happened over the weekend between you and Mihashi; that much is clear." Tajima took a deep breath, obviously trying to calm himself. "But you don't trust us, your friends, enough to let us in." By the sound of Tajima's voice it was obviously he needed the calming breath. It sounded like he was barely holding back a torrent of tears himself.

Abe sat in silence. Tajima was, as astronomically unreasonable as it seemed, one hundred percent correct. The question is how Abe should handle the situation. Tajima seemed to be able to see through Abe's lies. But if Abe told Tajima the truth that he was in love with Mihashi then it would no doubt hurt the third baseman because he still loved Abe.

But did Tajima not just say that he wanted what was best for Abe? And Abe did not want Tajima in that way then surely the third baseman would understand. After all it was not like Tajima would or could tell anybody; because if he did then Abe, as spiteful as it might sound, could tell everyone Tajima's secret.

So Abe decided on the truth. He was allowed to do that under special circumstances. "Tajima, you're right." This time Abe needed the calming breath. "Something did happen between Mihashi and me."

"Did he reject you? Your confession?" Tajima inquired.

Abe's eyes opened wide. "What? What would make you…how did you…" he spluttered, barely managing coherency.

Tajima's voice was intense now. "So he didn't reject you?"

"No, but how did you know that I…him…" Abe asked.

"It's like, well, don't take this the wrong way."

"I, I wont," Abe said hesitantly.

"Well, you know I have feelings for you. And well, I watch you a lot. I see the way you interact with people. Everyone thinks that I'm just a fool and well, to be honest, I am. But I do notice things too. I've been watching you and Mihashi and the way you two interact." He smirked, breaking the tension n the air. "You love him. Hell you're pretty much obsessed with him. I bet you'd take a bullet for him if you had to."

He was right; spot on accurate. Abe did, well still does, love Mihashi and he would, if for some reason the occasion called for it, take a bullet for his friend.

The silence was all the confirmation Tajima needed. "Don't worry Abe, I wont tell anybody."

"Thanks Tajima. I just, I don't want to deal with many others commenting about this right now."

"You're secret's safe with me Abe. But please tell me one thing. I'm still curious –"

"About what?" Abe asked.

"You see Abe, I still feel terrible. I know that something happened between you two. I know it from the bottom of my heart and it kills me inside to see you hurting over him. What happened?"

Tajima had already figured out so much, so Abe decided to let it all out. He would hold nothing back. "I have known that I loved him since, well, since back in October when I got the concussion at his house. Some things happened that next day and well, he was there for me. I care about him a lot."

"What happened between you two?"

Abe dipped his head. "This past Saturday, you know after the party, I went over to my aunt and uncle's house, actually my old house, to shovel their driveway because they're out of town. Just before I left Mihashi called me wanting to hang out. He ended up coming with me and we hung out at my aunt and uncle's house for a while." Abe laughed a mirthless bark. "I actually got him to have a snowball fight with me."

"What happened next?" Tajima asked, enthralled by the story.

"He mentioned that he needed a new shirt for school so we went to the shopping district and picked up a new shirt. I suggested we hang out at the arcade for a while and he agreed; although it was obvious after we got there that he probably never had been to one before. While we were there one of Mihashi's old teammates, Mihashi said his name was Tadashi."

"One of the guys from Mihoshi? I thought they were back on good terms with Mihashi," Tajima interrupted.

"This guy wasn't from Mihoshi, at least not their high school baseball team. I had never seen him before but now I know what Mihashi had to go through. I don't think the two said more than two sentences to each other but Mihashi had totally transformed, worse than what he was in the beginning of the season. Less than a minute later he took off and I followed.

"I saw him in the park and we got to talking. There was so much I wanted to tell him but when I had the perfect chance I froze. I tell you Tajima it was the perfect mood to confess and yet, well, I couldn't say a thing. I just kept stuttering and fumbling around. At first I couldn't understand why I couldn't tell him how I felt; but soon I realized. I concluded that I'm not supposed to love him; or more precisely I'm not supposed to be happy with him. It's funny; I had envisioned myself growing up with him, the two of us together and happy. But since then I can't see it anymore. Whenever I think of my future I'm there alone.

"It's stupid isn't it? I mean so even if I could confess to him. So what? What is the chance that Mihashi likes me back? Probably zero. And let's pretend just for a moment that he was into me. Would it be good for the two of us to date? What happens if we break up? Would our feud destroy the team?" Abe scoffed at his speculations.

"Besides, Mihashi will find someone soon and he'll be happy. I bet there are some girls at Nishiura that will be more than willing to go out with him."

Tajima was silent for a few moments as he absorbed what Abe had told him. "Abe let me ask you something," he said after some consideration.

"G-go ahead," Abe beckoned. He wasn't ready for the question-and-answer phase but that is where things were going.

Tajima bore his eyes into Abe's. "I want you to tell me. Don't think about it but just tell me straight off. Are you gay?"

"No," Abe said automatically. And for the most part that was true. Abe didn't feel this way about any other guy. So Abe could admire male beauty; that didn't make him gay. And even then he never fantasized about Mihashi in a sexual way. Abe simply wanted to be with Mihashi. The pitcher was like air or food or water. He was not an option, but a need he never knew he had to satisfy. Until now.

The third baseman took a moment more to process this information. "So what would you do if you could not be with Mihashi?"

"Th-that's the thing, Tajima. I don't know. I have no idea what I would do and it's freaking me out."

"Is that why you've been out of it lately?"

"I, I don't know. I mean I want to talk to Mihashi. He's my best friend and even if I can't be with him in a relationship I still want to be friends with him. But I don't want to be a burden to him."

"Burden?" Tajima asked perplexed. "How would you be a burden?"

"I thought about it. I thought about being with him even though I couldn't be _with_ him. I thought it would be a good idea but now, well, now it just sounds sad. Like I'm stalking him. I'd always be around him, constantly in his life. He'd get sick of me eventually, and I think he might be now so I started to distance myself away from him."

"Cold turkey with no explanation is not the greatest way to do things Abe."

"Well, I can't tell you my reasons for doing it because honestly, I don't know why myself. But it's hurting Tajima. It's hurting a lot. Yet this is bound to be my future so I might as well get use to the pain."

Tajima was serious again. "You don't have to Abe. You can find your own way without the pain."

"I've lived with this pain for so long I wouldn't know who I am without it," Abe replied morosely.

Tajima shot him a crooked smile. "Then reinvent yourself. Become someone new, someone better. Become the Takaya Abe that loves Ren Mihashi passionately with everything he has."

Abe thought about it. This sounded like something he really wanted to do. If he could reinvent who he was and change out of his crusty self-destructive self then there was no telling what the catcher could do. However there was still one problem flashing in Abe's mind. "But what about Mihashi? I don't even know if he's gay. Should I risk my friendship with him or the team's cohesion on a chance like this?"

The third baseman straightened out his crooked smile into a wide toothy grin. "You may be surprised at what you find out about him. He's a remarkable guy."

The catcher couldn't help but chuckle at both Tajima's expression and his words. "I hear ya," Abe agreed.

Abe took another sip from his now mostly finished latte and almost spilled the rest of it all over himself when three sharp rings made him jump. The LCD screen on the front of the phone told him he had a mail from his mom. He quickly read the short message and sighed. "I'm sorry Tajima, but my mom is quite curious as to where I am. Apparently I was supposed to be home so she could ask me to run a few errands for her. Now I have to do it while I'm out. I have to take off."

"No problem," Tajima said.

The taller teen stood. He put his hand on the third baseman's shoulder and said, "Thanks so much for listening Tajima. It really helped."

Tajima grabbed the hand on his shoulder with his and gave it a squeeze. "No problem Abe. And hey, I'll see you at Sakaeguchi's party on Christmas Eve?"

He smiled. "I'll see you there," Abe said and turned and left.

**Author's Note: Well how did you like it? Please review what you think, even if you're ambivalent about the chapter. I'm planning the next one in my head right now but no promises as to when it will go up. This one was much longer than I planned, I had the whole Tajima thing lasting only about a page in my head. I'm currently working on novelizing this and it's going actually rather well but that is the project that has been taking up a large chunk of my time.**

**Take care and thanks for reading!!**


	12. Chapter 12

Um…Sorry it's been so long since I've posted. I had a busy summer and now that Uni has started back up I have stress that I need to vent via my writing. Please please please review, good or bad anything that will help my writing is much appreciated. If this chapter doesn't make a whole lot of sense I'm sorry but I've been piecing it together since May. Enjoy!

**Chapter 12**

Eight days filled of absolute nothing passed. It was only eight days but to Abe it seemed like a month. The birthday festivities had died down, school was out for break, and much to his surprise Abe had snapped out of depression about Mihashi. But now he was numb. The absence of his negative thoughts, as sad as they might be, had left a hole in Abe. The hole slowly melted any emotion Abe felt, like ice encircled by flame licking at any feeling both positive and negative leaving Abe nothing could hold on to. This absence, this void was worse than the depression. At least he was able to feel before.

The streets were all decked out for the festivities. Nondenominational wreathes of evergreen boughs tied with festive red ribbons hung from every downtown lamppost giving the town a glimmer of holiday spirit. Abe took in all of the pseudo-Christmas decorations, and when he heard his first Christmas music of the season he burst out in mirthless laughter at the fanatical mindset the community had adopted for the season. It seemed that nobody knew that when Christmas was over, the "winter wonderland" would transform into a winter wasteland.

Sakaeguchi had sent everyone a text message on their mobiles earlier in the week telling everyone to be there by five and included directions to his house. Abe was sure it would be a night of hanging out with everyone like their normal social events. But he had never seen Sakaeguchi's house and was inexplicably curious. He couldn't believe that the second baseman's room would be as dirty as Mihashi's or Tajima's. Maybe Sakaeguchi would turn out to be a neat freak. It would be in Sakaeguchi's personality. The second baseman had a few compulsions and quirks; granted it was nothing on the scale of Mihashi but maybe one of Sakaeguchi's peculiarities would be cleanliness.

The quartet of Hanai, Oki, Tajima, and Suyama were waiting at the CD shop for Abe. When questioned about it Hanai reluctantly muttered something about wanting to go as a team. Abe instantly read the situation: none of them wanted to show up early. The five teammates walked in silence to the second baseman's house, or however much silence can be had with Tajima in company.

The quintet had no trouble finding Sakaeguchi's house. The house was a quaint one dwarfed by the rather obscene manor-like homes dotting the cul-de-sac. The more Abe admired homestead the more liked it. The light Robin's Egg Blue siding admirably reflects Sakaeguchi's calm and easy going empathic manor. As he took in the scenery of both the house and the neighborhood Abe began to wonder what exactly Sakaeguchi's dad did for a living. The other houses on the block were very nice indeed and to even have a hovel of a house in the area must cost a good sum of money.

They didn't have to wait long for Sakaeguchi to answer the door after they knocked. After they took off their shoes he showed them into the living room where the rest of the team sat. Abe noted with mixed feelings of mortification and relief that Aizawa was not only present but seemed to be attached to Izumi's arm. Abe also observed that Hamada and Shinooka where in attendance as well as Hikari. It seemed that over the months and especially after Abe's birthday the two girls had become a part of the team just like Hamada had before.

When Abe eyed Mihashi the raven haired catcher's stomach preformed a miracle; it boiled with hot passion and froze with dread at the same time. This odd occurrence perplexed Abe and he did little to verify it spare cringe on the inside. He was completely positive of his feelings towards Mihashi and for that he was glad. The turmoil and chaos of his confusion towards his best friend had been a kind of hell. But now things had changed. Abe knew where Mihashi stood in his life and was in a deeper, sadder pit of hell because of it. At least when he was confused there was still the glimmer of hope sparkling like light breaking on a prism to keep himself orientated. Now the prism had become a prison, incarcerating and erasing any feeling that he could hold on to.

On the surface Abe showed nothing in recognition of his thoughts. The rest of the guests were scattered around the rest of the living room seated on the plush cream colored furniture. Abe stood in the corner near Suyama who was sitting on the fieldstone fireplace that looked like it hadn't been used in years. Hanai and Tajima sat next to the shortstop on the fireplace completing the circle.

As Abe looked around he felt as happy as the hole in his stomach would allow. Oki sat on the loveseat and started up a low conversation with Hikari; Izumi had his arm securely around Aizawa who shot the catcher a grin when she caught his eye. Over on the couch Shinooka, Nishihiro, and Mizutani where talking to someone that Abe guessed was Sakaeguchi's sister. She was very pretty, sharing Sakaeguchi's sand colored hair but wearing hers down her back. She looked to be around the same age as the rest of the team but Abe knew from past conversations with Sakaeguchi that she was a few years older.

"Do you guys want anything to drink?" Sakaeguchi asked the newcomers.

"Can I have a Coke?" Hanai asked.

"Me too!" Tajima sang.

"I'll have a glass of water if you don't mind Sakaeguchi," Abe replied.

"Sure but I'll need some help getting it," Sakaeguchi requested.

"Ok," Abe said, maneuvering around the furniture and following the second baseman into the kitchen.

The kitchen looked to be completely top of the line. Stained redwood cabinets hung from down from the ceiling and protruded from under the black granite countertops. Stainless steel professional looking equipment dotted the countertops culminating on one end of the room in a monstrous refrigerator that looked like it came from years in the future, and on the other end of the room was a stacked double oven with a range built into the countertop next to it. "Wow Sakaeguchi you dad must love to cook," Abe commented offhand.

The second baseman twisted his lips into a coy smile. "I would hope so. He's the executive chef at the Hilton on Ozaka Beach."

"Wow," Abe gasped. "Man I've never even been to a place as fancy as that. I wonder what it's like to eat at a four star restaurant."

Sakaeguchi chuckled. "It's not all that exciting. Mostly just overpriced food but some of the stuff there is pretty good."

Abe stood in the center of the kitchen admiring the room while Sakaeguchi ducked into a pantry for the beverages. When he came back Sakaeguchi's smile had disappeared only to be replaced by a look of concern. "Hey Sakaeguchi what's wrong?" The catcher asked.

The vice captain looked down at his feet, gathering his thoughts. "Hey Abe can we talk?" The second baseman's voice was rife with concern.

"Sure," Abe said tentatively. "What's wrong?"

Sakaeguchi looked up from the floor, eyes burning with concern and worry. "That's what I want to know. You've been acting differently since, well, since the Monday after your birthday. Is there anything you want to talk about?"

Abe tried locking his eyes with his friends. He met the second baseman's gaze for a moment but couldn't keep it. Instead he focused on the ovens. "No everything's fine."

"Abe, please don't lie to me. Everyone knows that something's bothering you. Even Mihashi has realized it. He's been depressed all week thinking that you're mad at him. You haven't seen it because you take off before everyone else after practice but he can't keep his mind straight. Every day that week after you left he would throw some of his stuff in his locker and leave too, but instead of going home he goes into an empty classroom and cries. He won't talk about it with anyone. All Tajima could get out of him was that your mad at him. So please if you don't want to talk to Mihashi about it please talk to me. Whatever Mihashi did I'm sure he's sorry for it."

Traitorous tears had formed in Abe's eyes. It was one thing for Abe to suffer. That was to be expected. But to have Mihashi crying over the catcher sent Abe into a downward spiral of hate and self loathing. He took a deep breath, trying in vain to calm himself so he took another and another. Finally after a few agonizingly long moments Abe had enough control to speak. "Sakaeguchi, I'm not mad at Mihashi. Quite the opposite actually. I'm pissed at myself _because_ of Mihashi."

"What do you mean?"

The catcher took another deep breath for good measure before letting out a sigh. "It's been almost a year since we tried forming the battery and I've gotten nowhere."

"What do you mean?" Sakaeguchi repeated himself. "Mihashi adores you."

"On Saturday, after my birthday, Mihashi and I hung out during the day. We were down in the shopping district because he needed a new shirt. Well we stopped into one of the arcades and we ran into someone Mihashi knew from his old school."

"Oh." The sound was barely audible over the din coming from the living room.

"All the progress I had thought I made. All the early mornings and all of the time I put in trying to get to know Mihashi, trying to befriend him. I too thought it was impossible at first but during the summer tournament I had thought we really connected. But that one encounter. In less than a minute I realized that everything I had done was pointless. Mihashi took off running. Once I caught up to him, I realized that we had gotten nowhere. I don't think we can ever be more than catcher and pitcher."

Sakaeguchi was silent. Abe was embarrassed at saying so much and decided to let the silence linger. Any more and he wouldn't be able to keep himself together.

"Have you told Mihashi any of this?" Sakaeguchi said after a minute breaking the silence.

"No."

"Maybe you should."

"If he doesn't want to be friends with me then I won't make him."

"Why haven't you said anything about this before?" Sakaeguchi asked. "You know you're not alone here. All you have to do is ask."

"You…you wouldn't understand." Abe retorted.

"Abe, this isn't a personal crusade. We're all in this together. The eight of us, hell all of us here the girls and Hamada included, we're all your friends. I would hope you'd realize that and not try to be an island. Please, let us help you." With a quick stride Sakaeguchi closed the gap between himself and Abe and wrapped his arm around the taller boy's shoulders ensnaring him in a one armed hug. "Now come on, if we don't hurry Tajima and Hanai'll come in here looking for their pop&&&."

Abe nodded and when Sakaeguchi turned his back to the catcher he wiped the tears away from his eyes.

"Now," said Sakaeguchi with an upbeat tone as smooth as satin, "let's go join the others."

The pair walked back into the living room acting as if nothing had happened. "About time!" Tajima exclaimed. "I was dying of thirst. Any longer and we would've sent a search party."

"God Tajima, ungracious much?" Hanai scolded.

Abe handed Tajima his can of Coke and sad on the floor in his previous corner. He busied himself with the conversation he just had with Sakaeguchi. The conversation with Tajima had taken him completely by surprise, but the one with Sakaeguchi not so much. It made sense that the second baseman would notice something. He was the team's resident empath and while he was not the smartest or the best athlete he at could least identify when there was a problem. Yet having him on the team was a double edged sword. If Sakaeguchi read too far into Abe's troubles then he would figure out too much and discover his secret. At least with Tajima Abe could fight back. But he had nothing on Sakaeguchi and therefore no assurance that he would stay quiet.

Abe kept his cautionary thoughts swirling. He was paying only token interest to the conversation at hand and instead kept a sharp eye on Mihashi. True to his form the pitcher never sat still. Abe noticed that quite often the quirky teen would try to sneak a look at the catcher. The look never lasted more than a few seconds and if Abe was not doing the same he would never had suspected anything.

Tajima's stomach disrupted the many smaller conversations that were taking place. All eyes transfixed themselves on the third baseman who chuckled in response.

"God Tajima, can't you quiet that thing down? It's like a cement mixer over here," Hanai exclaimed moments before his own stomach let out a fierce growl.

"Look who's talking cap'in," Mizutani joshed before he to followed suit.

By now the room was wrought with laughter. "Why don't I just go order us some pizzas before Tajima and Hanai turn cannibalistic?"

"Oh oh oh get one with cheese and pineapple and pepperoni and mushrooms and crab and hotdogs and–"

"Tajima you idiot!" Hanai scolded as he playfully smacked the smallest teen on the head. "They don't even put hotdogs on pizza. Besides, that would taste nasty."

"What kinds should I get?" Sakaeguchi asked.

"Just go with Pepperoni and…" Suyama trailed off. "Is anyone here a vegetarian or not want pepperoni?"

"I-I'm a vegetarian," Hikari announced.

"Me too," Sakaeguchi's sister added.

"Ok so we'll all have pepperoni and Hikari-chan and Kagome-san will share a cheese. Does that sound good?"

Everyone nodded in agreement.

"How many should we get?" Nishihiro asked.

"How about we get seven pepperoni and a cheese, and if we need more than we can get something else later," Oki proposed.

"Why so many?" Aizawa asked.

Oki grinned a sheepish smile. "Well for one thing we have those two," he pointed at Tajima who was rubbing his stomach and to Mihashi who was salivating at the thought of all the pizza. "And then we have the nine of us guys and then Shinooka-chan and you Aizawa-chan."

"Fair enough," Hanai said. "Let's see, about five bucks a pizza at eight pizzas plus tip makes it…"

"Forty seven dollars and some change, so about forty eight bucks," Nishihiro concluded. "Tip would put us at about fifty three bucks."

Hanai stood up. "Alright," he exclaimed, "that's four bucks a person. Sakaeguchi and Kagome-san don't have to pay because it's their house."

Everyone started shuffling through their pockets for the money. Abe watched as Mihashi fumbled around for his wallet with no success. Hanai walked around the circle collecting money. When he got to Abe the catcher pulled a ten out of his wallet and handed it to the right fielder. "That's for me and Mihashi," the catcher said casually. The corner of Hanai's mouth twitched into a slight smile as he comprehended the catcher's meaning.

When the captain got around to Mihashi the pitcher blushed. "S-sorry Hanai-kun, I-I don't have any m-money on me."

"Don't worry Mihashi. Abe paid for the two of you."

Mihashi turned to gaze at the catcher. Abe instantly busied himself with examining the stones in the fireplace. Despite his best efforts a blush crept across his cheeks as he felt Mihashi's eyes on him. Abe knew the pitcher wanted to say something to him, but he felt like he needed to apologize to Mihashi for ignoring him first and foremost before they could have any meaningful dialogue. Sakaeguchi's suggestion of simply talking to the pitcher about Abe's feeling seemed like the right thing to do, but having such a private talk at the party hardly seemed like the right thing to do. Abe would have to get Mihashi alone some other time and do it then.

With money in hand and the pizzas ordered the group of fifteen sat down and waited the half hour for their food to arrive. Abe continued his previous routine of acting like he was listening while subtly watching Mihashi.

"Abe…Abe…Hey Abe…" Someone was calling Abe's name, drawing him back to the conversation. "TAKAYA!"

The catcher snapped his head up and searched for whoever was calling his name. All eyes were on Abe as he came back to earth. "Huh? Sorry I was zoning out."

"So are you?" Kagome asked.

Abe looked from face to face, each intimately focused on the catcher. "Am I what?"

"Tch. Geeze Abe, you've been out of it lately," Hanai said rather curtly.

"Sorry, I just have some stuff on my mind. What was the question?"

"We're all going to the Ichinose shrine on New Year's day. Are you in?" Hamada asked.

Relieved that it was something trivial like the first shrine visit, Abe let out the breath he was holding. He had feared for a moment that they had caught him staring at Mihashi. "Uh, yeah sure. What time?" He asked.

"We're gonna meet up at nine at the CD store," Suyama answered. The conversation flowed around Abe. After the scare he had to abandon his previous activity and participate.

The pizza came right on time. Sakaeguchi with the accompaniment of Nishihiro answered the door and paid the delivery man. They returned with the multitude of pizzas the party had ordered. "I'm going to put these on the dining room table. You guys go ahead and help yourselves."

Tajima and Mihashi followed closely behind Oki and Sakaeguchi. Abe waited behind as the others lined up to grab their pizza. He waited and watched as the line formed and then whittled down. Most of the guys had plates stacked with pizza while Tajima and Mihashi both had half of a pizza box to use as their plate, each half containing half a pizza.

Once there where only a few people in line Abe decided to get up. He got in line behind Sakaeguchi's sister Kagome. Abe, not having taken part in much of the conversation, still felt like she was more or less a stranger and didn't really know anything about her. The only thing he knew about her was that she was in her third year of high school and was home for the break. But she had a relaxed smile and bright eyes that made him feel like the two had known each other for ages.

So he wasn't too startled when she turned to him and started talking. "So Abe-kun, you're the catcher on the team?"

"Yeah," he responded, inwardly smiling at the familiarity in her voice.

"Sak-chan says that you're some kind of baseball prodigy; that you're the one who comes up with the strategies and stuff."

Abe sniggered at Kagome's childhood nickname for her little brother. "Prodigy? I don't know about that, that would be Tajima. No I just look over the data on our opponents and come up with a plan that I think would work. With a pitcher like Mihashi it's not too hard."

By now they were the only two at the table. Kagome took a slice of cheese pizza while Abe piled three slices of pepperoni onto his plate.

"So Abe-kun, why didn't you bring your girlfriend tonight? I would love to meet her."

The raven haired catcher blanched at her off-hand comment. "I, I don't have a girlfriend."

"Really?" Kagome asked as she stepped around the table to grab a napkin. "I'm surprised a cute guy like you doesn't have one. I could have sworn that Sak-chan said something about you going out with someone…" She pursed her eyebrows as she struggled to remember the girl's name.

Abe thought fast. This was not exactly a conversation he felt comfortable having with his teammates let alone their good looking sister that he had just met. "No, you're probably thinking of Aizawa Mai-chan but she's going out with Izumi. We're just friends."

"Well you do like someone, don't you?" She interrogated.

"Um, well, yeah; there is a person that I do like."

"You should ask her out. I bet she'll say yes."

"Ah, um, yeah, you see, I–"

But a voice from the doorway cut him off. "K-chan stop pestering Abe. He likes someone else; you're not going to score him as a boyfriend."

"Aw Sak-chan you're no fun. I was just askin'," Kagome groaned as she walked by the two teens to rejoin everyone in the living room.

The two teammates sent each other looks; Abe's of pure gratitude over being saved from his friend's sister, and an apologetic one from Sakaeguchi. "Thanks man I owe you one."

"Hey man no problem. I'm sorry she can get like that," Sakaeguchi smiled at the catcher.

The conversation in the living room had died down. Tajima broke the silence by yelling, "Hey Sakaeguchi, can we get some music?"

"You're at someone else's house, say please damn it," Hanai hollered at the third baseman.

Before Abe and Sakaeguchi could reappear into the living room they heard Tajima exclaim "ow Hanai! Sakaeguchi, please?"

Abe sat back down on the fieldstone fireplace while Sakaeguchi turned on the radio. "Any suggestions?" He asked the group at large.

After a few seconds of bickering the group decided on a station. Bad Luck's _No Style_ came blaring out of the speakers before the second baseman turned the volume down to suitable level for conversation.

The fifteen teenagers talked and bullshitted until nearly ten o'clock. They left the second baseman's house in twos and threes heading in the same general direction. Abe, Mihashi, and Nishihiro all stayed to help Sakaeguchi clean up the house. Sakaeguchi dismissed Abe and Mihashi saying that he, Kagome, and Nishihiro could take care of the rest. When Abe protested Sakaeguchi dismissed him saying that it was late and that since Nishihiro was spending the night he would help clean.

As he was closing the door Abe took one more look back inside. Sakaeguchi caught the catcher's eye, winked, and nodded once. With that Abe closed the door.

The pitcher-catcher duo walked in silence for a block. Abe had hoped that Mihashi would be the one to start up a conversation but the pitcher seemed to be lost in thought. As odd as it seemed for the pitcher to be concentrating hard on anything that didn't have to do with baseball, Abe decided to let it go. Now was a great time for Abe to talk to Mihashi about the taller teen's feelings but Abe didn't know what he wanted to say. He needed some more time to get his thoughts organized.

As if he were reading the catcher's mind, Mihashi spoke up. "A-Abe-kun, there's s-something I w-wanna talk to y-you about."

"Like what?" Abe asked. He really didn't want to have this conversation right now but he had to.

"W-well, a-Abe-kun, I w-want to ap-pologize." Mihashi sniffed back the tears that were formed at the corner of his eyes.

Abe tried to reassure his pitcher. "What for, Mihashi? You didn't do anything wrong."

Mihashi took a deep breath. "I-I thought y-you where m-mad at m-me."

"Is this because we haven't really talked much?" Abe guessed.

Mihashi nodded his head slowly.

Abe mimicked Mihashi and took a deep breath. He needed to clear his head and come up with a game plan. "No, Mihashi, it's me. I've been doing a lotta thinking and I've been confusing myself. You've done nothing wrong." Abe put all of his feelings for his pitcher into the warmest smile he could muster. When Mihashi blushed at Abe's smile the taller teen ruffled the pitcher's hair as a sign of friendship.

Mihashi reached up and grabbed Abe's hand in his. The catcher gasped at how cold Mihashi's hand was. The pitcher pulled Abe's hand from his head and stopped to turn and face his friend head on. Mihashi traced circles on the back of Abe's hand as he fought for strength. "A-Abe-kun…"

The two locked eyes. Abe was startled that Mihashi would do something like this. He never would have thought Mihashi would hold Abe's hand so tenderly, that he would put so much passion and feeling into his eyes. "Yes Mihashi?"

"I love you."

Sorry about the monetary units. I have no idea how much a large pizza costs in Japan so I went off of some of the US prices. And I couldn't resist throwing in a Gravitation reference, I just finished reading the manga online.

I hope you guys liked the little twist I threw in there. Please Review!!!

~ebob.


	13. Chapter 13

So, I'm kinda surprised how fast this one came out…the first half pretty much wrote itself. I hope you guys like, and this is not the last chapter.

Once again, I don't own Oofuri, although I wish I did.

PLEASE REVIEW!!

**Chapter 13**

Abe froze. Had he heard Mihashi right? Did Mihashi know what he was saying? Was Mihashi simply trying to make Abe feel better? Why would Mihashi confess out of the blue like that?

"A-Abe-kun…A-Abe-kun did you hear me?" Mihashi asked.

The catcher finally broke eye contact with his friend. "Mihashi…" Abe paused after saying his friend's name. It felt good, somehow right. "Mihashi," he repeated and again savoring the sense of satisfaction and relief that seared his body. "You don't need to say unnecessary things. I already told you that what happened wasn't your fault; it was mine. Saying you love me when you don't will only make it hurt more."

"A-Abe-kun please, I-I love y-you!" The pitcher protested.

"Mihashi don't say silly things. You, you don't love me." Abe replied with a dry mirthless laugh.

"A-Abe-kun look at m-me," Mihashi whispered. "P-please."

But Abe was determined not to. He didn't want his friend to see the pain and hurt laced thick in the catcher's eyes. There was no way Mihashi could love him. Abe was the one who kept hurting the pitcher. He was the one who couldn't help his friend. Abe Takaya was the reason for Mihashi's anguish. So Mihashi had to be mistaken. Abe was supposed to be in Mihashi's shadow, always there to help and then disappear again.

With a new resolve Abe took a deep breath. He fought back the emotions clawing for release and steadied himself. "Mihashi," he nearly purred, "I'm not the one you love. I h-hurt you way too much. I'm no good for you." Abe focused his eyes on his feet. Better to look down like a fool than to have Mihashi see the tears in his eyes.

"N-no a-Abe-kun, Th-that's not true!" Mihashi exclaimed. "A-Abe-kun never hurt m-me. A-Abe-kun was always there for me."

"Mihashi I'm a terrible friend. I couldn't help you…" Abe couldn't finish his sentence. It felt so good to say his friend's name, but the reality of the situation sliced through him. Each word was like a new knife cutting into his heart. With each passing second Abe felt his throat tighten and his eyes burn.

"Damn it Abe look at me!" Mihashi yelled, startling the catcher and making him look up. Mihashi transfixed his eyes on the taller teens. "A-Abe-kun listen. Y-you are m-my savior, m-my hero. Before th-this y-year I was stuck in th-the past. Now I-I am able to m-move on with m-my life. When I-I'm around y-you I feel like I c-can do anything."

This was too much for Abe to handle. Secretly he wanted this more than anything in the world; and secretly he feared it more than anything. He loves Mihashi and Mihashi loves Abe, that part more than works out. What troubled Abe was the latter stipulation. Abe knew he needed Mihashi. The question was did Mihashi need him? Could Mihashi find the same affection with someone who didn't put the pitcher through hell? "Mihashi, I love you too, I have for a while. But I'm not right for you. All I do is yell at you. I can't even protect you from your past. You deserve better."

Mihashi reached up and cupped Abe's face with his hands. They where icy, but more importantly shaking. Abe tried to guess why; was it fear, or possibly was he just cold? "Abe Takaya," Mihashi was furious. His eyes shone with a glint of rage Abe never knew existed. Mihashi was so mad, so pissed off yet his hands where gentle, almost caressing. "Y-you are m-my teammate, y-you are m-my catcher, and most importantly y-you are m-my friend. Y-you Abe have d-done for m-me what no one else h-has. Y-you helped m-me accept m-my past."

These words seared Abe. He was convinced that he had done nothing but hurt his friend, yet here was his pitcher telling Abe that he was special, that he was loved, needed. But Abe couldn't accept this. Mihashi had too much going for him to be brought down by Abe. "Mihashi you've become a popular guy at school. You could probably get any girl you asked out."

"I-I don't want an-anybody else. Takaya, I want y-you!"

Abe's eyes grew wide. He had nothing to say to this. Mihashi was his friend, his teammate, his secret love. Abe's two sides where fighting one another. His heart wanted Mihashi more than anything. He wanted Mihashi; needed Mihashi. Yet his mind said that it couldn't be, it shouldn't be. An everlasting moment passed as Abe sat still as stone fighting with himself. Should he be selfish and take what he wanted, take what his friend was offering? Or should he be steadfast and do everything in his power never to hurt the pitcher again?

With gentle force Mihashi made up the catcher's mind for him. Softly, slowly he tilted his preoccupied friend's head down. All of this passed by Abe unnoticed. It was not until Mihashi, standing on his toes to reach, brushed his lips with Abe's. It was brief; lasting no more than a second. And it was gentle like the touch of a newborn. But it was enough to make Abe realize what he wanted and what he needed. In that fleeting second, that moment in time where nothing else mattered but the faint touch of one boy's lips Abe made a promise to his teammate, his pitcher, his friend, his _lover_, that he would no longer be in the shadows supporting Mihashi from afar. With everything that he was Abe promised to be side by side with Mihashi forever, united as one.

Mihashi released his friend and broke the kiss. Mihashi expected Abe to overreact, to spurt off some more nonsense about hurting Mihashi. Tentatively the pitcher looked up, expecting to see an angry or worse yet sad Abe. Instead Abe's eyes where closed and he was smiling a lopsided smile. "Mihashi," Abe cooed, "I love you. Whatever happened, happened. But whatever will happen, will happen with you."

The pitcher leaned up once more and kissed his new boyfriend. On that dark sidewalk with nothing but the stars in the sky and the dim rays of a nearby porch light illuminating the night the two kissed. Abe's lips, chapped by the cold, joined Mihashi's soothing pillows. As the kiss began to intensify Abe felt something hot and wet trace the outline of his mouth. Without thinking he parted his lips and bade Mihashi's tong entrance. Mihashi's tong was something of its own. It was silken and smooth, yet rough in all the right places. It was hot, wet, and tantalizing with the pitcher's taste. Abe let out a soft moan as the two struggled for dominance. He didn't want to lose, but there was something arousing in the thought of being dominated by the smaller, less aggressive teen.

He conceded control to Mihashi who, like Abe, was going off of pure instinct. As far as he could tell the pitcher didn't have any experience in kissing. Yet it was immaculate how one small brush of Mihashi's tong could set fire to Abe's body. It was a good burn, the kind of flame scorching with passion that ignited Abe's imagination and left his body tingling, begging for more.

The two broke the kiss, panting for air.

"Abe?" The pitcher asked once he caught his breath.

"Yeah?"

"I love you."

"I love you too. Now what do you say we head home. We've had an exciting night and need our sleep," Abe suggested. He turned and started walking down the sidewalk. Mihashi caught up and walked in stride with his new boyfriend. With an air of boldness Abe grasped Mihashi's hand with his and intertwined fingers with his lover's.

"Abe?" Mihashi asked, startled at his love's boldness.

"It's alright Mihashi." Abe could hear the smile on his face reflected in his voice. "Tonight, I don't care who sees. I'm with you and that's all that matters." Abe gave his boyfriend's hand a gentle squeeze.

"Abe…" Mihashi sighed and squeezed back.

"By the way, Mihashi,"

"Yeah, Abe?"

"I noticed you've stopped stuttering around me. Care to explain?"

From the corner of his eye Abe watched as Mihashi grinned a smile bigger than Tajima's on his best day. "I guess it's because I can now relax around you." Mihashi let out another content sigh. "You've seen me at my worst, and yet you still love me."

They walked in completely blissful silence until they reached Mihashi's house. "Mihashi?" Abe asked.

"Hmm?"

"I don't care if you tell your parents, they're good people and I think they'd understand. But do you think we can hold off before we tell anybody else? I don't want this to affect the team. Tajima knows; how the hell he knows is beyond me but he knows. Sakaeguchi suspects something but I don't think he knows everything yet. I just want to be careful about how we tell the team."

Mihashi was silent for a moment as he thought about it. "You're right Abe. I don't want this going around the whole school."

"Yeah," Abe agreed. "So just us for now? And your parents if you want to. They're cool I think they'd understand. But if you want to wait before you told them that would be fine too."

"Mmm…You're right Abe."

"Goodnight Mihashi," Abe said before bending down to kiss Mihashi.

"Goodnight Abe," Mihashi replied once they broke the kiss, only to counter with a hug. "Sleep well."

"You too."

Abe watched as Mihashi, blushing scarlet, walked inside. As the catcher walked home he was on top of the world. The nagging void was gone, and the catcher now felt whole. Mihashi loved him. They had kissed, and Abe had loved every minute of it. And what was best, simply icing on the cake, was that Mihashi no longer stuttered around him. How long that would remain was yet to be seen but for that one magnificent night he and his best friend had connected. No, not just friend, but love.

Love, it was a novel concept to him. Abe had read about it, seen it portrayed a thousand different times by a thousand different people, but none of those could compare to how he felt now. Simply walking with Mihashi in silence was pure paradise. Their three kisses where indescribable; the epitome of happiness, of satisfaction, of simple contentment. If he could have one thing in the afterlife it would simply be Mihashi's touch, his simple presence. Things had fallen into place for Abe, and he knew he was exactly where he wanted to be.

Night had been on for a while when Abe finally arrived home nearly skipping in his jubilance. Shun was in the kitchen as Takaya entered. The younger brother adjusted his face into a perplexed scowl as he took in the look on his brother's face. "Hey Taka what's wrong with you?"

"Nothing Shun-chan. There's nothing wrong."

Shun raised an eyebrow. His older brother never called him Shun-chan. "Ok then, care to explain that stupid smile on your face?"

It was then that Takaya realized he was still smiling. "Sorry, but do I need a reason to smile?" Takaya shot back.

"It's just strange. You were so down this morning. So why are you so happy now?"

Takaya smirked. "Shun, you wouldn't understand."

"I'm not dumb you know. I _am_ your little brother," Shun commented.

Takaya's smirk blossomed into a full fledged smile. "Then you really are dumb."

"No I'm not!" Shun protested.

"Shun, I'm smiling because I'm so stupid. It took me four months to realize what I had in my hands."

The eyebrows of the younger brother creased together. "Taka, are you feeling alright?"

The taller brother let his smile touch his eyes. "I'm being cryptic for a reason, little bro. But yes, I'm finally feeling good." Takaya left his little brother to ponder over his enigmatic statements. The rest of the house was dark, telling Takaya that his parents had already gone to bed. He decided to follow suit and headed upstairs to his room.

Laying on his bed, Abe reflected on the day's events. He was much too excited for sleep to envelope his mind so he let it wander. He replayed the conversation with Sakaeguchi in his head, scoffing to the darkness at his frustrated reactions to the second baseman's wisdom. All of the planning he did during the party was all for naught, but it worked out for the better.

As Abe thought about his plans he couldn't help but recollect Mihashi. He studied the pitcher with gruesome intensity as the night progressed, letting the pitcher's every twitch dance through the catcher's head as the analytical teen dissected every possible meaning for the movement. Abe could not have known it at the time, but studying the aftermath he realized with delight that he and the pitcher where sharing the same thoughts.

Then there was Mihashi himself. To think that Mihashi, the meek fickle scared timid mouse of a man, had the sort of transient strength to enable him to, if only in the passion of the moment, stand up and confess to his love when Abe himself was wavering, and had feared for his sanity by settling on a one-sided love painfully guised as friendship. The origin of that strength was a mystery to the catcher. Never had Mihashi shown anything of the sort, and yet the impossible did happen. The pitcher was so full of surprises.

The darkness had given Abe an empty canvas. On it he pictured Mihashi simply standing looking back at the catcher. Abe reached out a hand and stroked where Mihashi's head would be, tenderly smoothing out the messy spikes in the pitcher's hair. From there his hand snaked around his lover's cheek and down to his chin. With a careful thumb Abe softly stroked the pitcher's supple lips, recalling in perfect clarity the shape and feel of every contour and crevasse. As he progressed he imagined the pitcher leaning in for a kiss and in response parted his lips for Mihashi's tong. He could still taste the pitcher. The wonderful essence that was Mihashi lingered in the steely eyed teen's mind. Abe moaned as he recreated Mihashi's curious tong as it probed every crevice and cavern of Abe's mouth, reigniting the flames that time let lapse.

With a happily hardening mound in his navy blue boxers the elder of the two Abe brothers fell into a sound sleep.

Christmas at the Abe residence was a laid back affair. Takaya, still suffering from the aftereffects of both his fantasizing before falling asleep and his provocative dreams that night, slid on a pair of black sweatpants to cover the his excitement. He made a few final adjustments to his aroused member to hide its conspicuousness before heading downstairs to join his family for a small brunch.

Once the family finished eating, Takaya's father asked Shun to distribute the presents. Each took turn opening their gifts. The steely eyed Takaya looked on in pleasure as his dad unwrapped Takaya's gift, a large assortment of his favorite chocolates, Shun's gift, the latest season of his favorite sitcom, and his wife's present of an autographed baseball jersey signed by Washington's Ichiro Suzuki she had won in an epic e-bay battle. His mom was overjoyed by her eldest son's gift of an envelope containing a coupon for a free trip to a massage parlor, Shun's gift of rather lengthy cookbook filled with year around holiday recipes, and the showstopper for the day was her husband's gift of authentic pear earrings set in gold. The cry of exultation stemming from Shun as he shred apart the paper concealing the missing chapters in his favorite manga series gave Takaya a warm hearted sense of unshakable happiness. The youngest Abe was just as pleased with his parent's gift of a duo video/mp3 player. Takaya's own haul of new batting gloves from his little brother to replace his old ratty gloves which had their own peculiar odor and a new video/mp3 player to match his brother's did not hurt his spirits either.

There was however one problem that persisted to be of annoyance to the catcher. Now that he and Mihashi where officially yet secretly together Takaya felt like he should give the pitcher a gift. The thing was Abe had no idea what to give his friend. The pitcher's two interests, baseball followed closely by food, where of no help. Takaya couldn't afford anything practical as far as baseball was concerned, although as far as Takaya knew the pitcher didn't need any new equipment; and on the food aspect the pitcher's habits where also of no help. Instead of favoring one food over another Mihashi's viciously omnivorous palate consumed every edible morsel with blatant disregard for any sort of discrimination between dishes. So Abe was out of choices.

With the family obligation over for the day, Takaya retreated to his room. The question about what to get Mihashi still ate at him. Once he was safely in his bedroom Takaya plopped down on his bed and shot a quick mail to Mihashi. "_Merry Christmas,_" he wrote, "_I love you._"

Mihashi's reply sent the steely eyed teen into orbit. "_I love you too Abe. Merry Christmas._" It was simple, relaxed, and from Takaya could remember from the night before completely sincere. Blood seared in Takaya's cheeks as he internalized the message.

At four his mobile rang again. This time it was a call from Sakaeguchi. "Merry Christmas man, what's up?" Abe answered.

"Merry Christmas Abe," Sakaeguchi greeted, "are you free tonight?"

"Yeah," Abe replied. "We already did our Christmas thing. What's going on?"

"I just wanted to see if you wanted to grab some dinner with us."

Abe thought about it. He really wanted to spend at least some of the day with Mihashi, but he didn't want to say no to his friend either. "Who all's gonna be there?"

There was poorly hidden smile in the second basemen's voice, and Abe knew the reason why. "It's just Tajima, me, Mihashi, Oki, and Hikari-chan. Everyone else is either out of touch or doing family stuff."

So Mihashi would be there. Abe let out an exhale of pleasure that the second baseman interpreted poorly. "If you haven't patched things up with Mihashi you don't have to come; I'll make something up for you."

"No it's alright," Abe protested. "We talked yesterday after the party and worked everything out. We're back on…I guess you could call it good terms."

"I see, that's good. We're meeting at the CD shop at five thirty. I'll see ya then." With that the second baseman hung up.

Abe laid down on his bed. He still had an hour and a half before he was supposed to meet the truncated group. An hour and a half of either sitting in his room doing nothing productive or an hour and a half downstairs with his family feeling uncomfortable, the choice was up to Abe. Instead he made up a third choice. "_I'm going._" He wrote in a mail to the pitcher."_Meet me early at the store. I have a present for you._"

With his message sent, Abe decided to get to work on his gift. Carefully he cut out a heart out of red construction paper. With a sharpie he wrote his love's name in the center of the cutout. On the back he taped a piece of paper with a poem of his own creation. It was a hasty gift made spur-of-the-moment but Abe was proud of his efforts.

At quarter to five Abe got ready. He selected some of his nicer casual clothes and spent ample time making sure everything was in order. At five flat he methodically tucked his gift inside the pocket of his sweatshirt and set out.

Mihashi was leaning against the wall of the CD store when Abe approached. "Hey Mihashi," he greeted his friend and love, "I hope you haven't been waiting long."

The smile on the pitcher's face warmed Abe's heart. "No Abe. I just got here a minute ago."

Abe danced internally as Mihashi spoke. Not once did the pitcher stutter or stammer. Once he calmed himself down Abe set his gaze on Mihashi's abnormally deep eyes. The catcher felt the familiar feeling of being sucked into the orbs' depths. This out-of-body trip gave Abe the inspiration he needed for his plan of attack. "Mihashi, I wanted to get you something for Christmas but I couldn't think of anything special."

"Abe you don't have to get me anything."

"Well, I do have a gift for you. It's nothing spectacular or expensive but I hope you like it." Abe paused, waiting for Mihashi's inevitable response.

"What is it?"

The catcher closed the gap between the two. Sneaking his hand into his pocket, Abe carefully withdrew the red heart and presented it to the smaller teen. He watched as Mihashi accepted the symbol before eyeing the front of the gift quizzically. "It's my heart," Abe explained, "and it knows only your name."

Mihashi's eyes bulged. His hands tightened around the effigy, holding the simple paper securely as if it where the real thing. Upon flipping it to the reverse, he found the poem Abe had left for his love:

_My heart held_

_in your hands, tenderly_

_beating for_

_eternity._

The steely eyed teen waited as the pitcher read the poem to himself. "I, I never knew you where so…so…"

"Corny? Lame?" Abe suggested.

Mihashi's eyes sparkled, shining with a spectral light that twinkled through the tears that where billowing up. "I was gonna say p-perfect."

In the silence that formed from the two teens completely lost in each other's eyes the whole world became redundant. Everything that mattered to Abe was in Mihashi's perpetually affectionate gaze. "I love you," Mihashi whispered.

Before the catcher could reply Mihashi reached up and ensnared the taller teen's mouth in a lip lock. The two once again struggled for dominance and once again Abe decided to defer control to the smaller teen who, after winning command of his lover's mouth, wrapped a possessive hand around the small of Abe's back.

The couple kissed on the corner in front of the CD shop for all of the world to see. But before long they had to break their passionate exchange for some much needed air. "Ha! Hanai owes me five bucks!" Tajima exclaimed, causing the pitcher-catcher duo to spring apart. On the other side of the street from where the lovers were stood Tajima accompanied by Oki, Sakaeguchi, and Hikari; all of whom where smirking rather sheepishly at Tajima's interrupting the pair's moment.

Abe felt Mihashi start to shake as he recognized their teammates. Instinctively, he wrapped his arm securely around Mihashi's shoulders and pulled the smaller teen into a tight one armed hug. "Hey guys," Abe greeted his teammates.

"So this is what you meant when you said you worked it out," Sakaeguchi concluded, right on target.

"A-about time," Oki added, audibly unsure of whether or not he should say anything.

"It's alright, they're our friends," Abe whispered after giving the shaking pitcher a reassuring squeeze. The catcher adjusted his own astonished look of shock into a composed smile and confronted his friends. "So you guys had a bet on us?" He inquired, the threat of retaliation thinly veiled in his voice. Abe had no intention of doing any harm to his teammates, he was too happy to hear their acceptance. But it was fun having at least Tajima believe that the threat had some substance.

"How long have you two been going out?" The third baseman asked, oblivious to subtleties in the catcher's voice.

"Since yesterday, right?" Sakaeguchi answered for the couple. "That would make it still December, which mean Izumi and Suyama split the pot. And to think if only they had waited one more week it would've been mine."

"At least you had a shot," Oki chimed in. "I had October. I could have sworn I had it all wrapped up after the whole concussion thing."

Irritation became the prevalent emotion on Abe's face, beating out bemusement and rage. "Who, who all was involved in the little bet?" He asked.

"All of us," Tajima answered nonchalantly.

Abe's face blanched in chagrin. Had they been that obvious?

"That's not fair," Hikari exclaimed. "You didn't tell me and Mai-chan!"

"Well Shinooka-chan was in on it, she could have told you too. She had February, probably hoping for Valentine's Day to spur those two on."

The anger in Abe subsided. He'd find some other way to get back at the team for making Mihashi and his personal lives their affair. "Either way, under penalty of death I'm going to swear you guys to secrecy. Alright?" Everyone instantly responded with a clear 'yes' including a very reluctant Tajima. "Now, can we get something to eat? I'm starving and I know that Mihashi is too."

The pack of six unanimously decided on Furikawa's to eat. On the way, another question occurred to Abe. "Hey Tajima, what did you mean Hanai owed you five bucks? I thought it was a pool bet."

The third baseman's answering laugh had a very conspicuous amount of evil mixed with mirth. "The two of us had a side bet. He bet that you'd be the Seme and Mihashi would be the Uke. Looks like he was wrong but I'm surprised as well." Abe glared at the smaller teen, which completely ignored the warning. "So Mihashi what's Abe like in the sack? He's gruff and mean but I bet when you two are alone he's all mushy and girly and stuff, right?"

"Tajima I swear to god I'm going to kill you," Abe growled as he turned threateningly toward the smallest teen.

"Kidding kidding," Tajima said quickly, trying to stifle any physical harm that he might have incurred. "It was a joke."

"I'll get you two. Sooner or later I will, you can bet on it," Abe chided, allowing some of his pent up anger to tint his voice.

"Yeah yeah, us meddling kids I get it," the smallest teen retorted.

Oki, Tajima, Sakaeguchi, and Hikari joked and jibed at the pair on the way to the Furikawa's while Abe held Mihashi closer, angry that his friends had bet on his and Mihashi's relationship yet overjoyed that the couple was accepted by this portion of the group. It was not a consensus, but it was a healthy start.

Post Script: Alrighty…I just wanna say that when I planned this story in the beginning it was an AbeMiha, but now it's kinda evolved into a MihaAbe, though it could still go the other way. This would have been up about a week sooner but I couldn't think of a good, cheesy poem to include.

And for those who read the new chapter that just came out (Chap 21 translated by _Nice_ _Pitching!_), was it just me or was it pretty much implied AbeMiha?

PLEASE REVIEW!!


	14. Chapter 14

So here's chapter 14. I'm debating about stopping here but I don't know. Please let me know what you think of the chapter, the story as a whole, and/or both.

I LIKE REVIEWS!

Disc: I don't own anything having to deal with oofuri, but I do own Hikari Sakura and Aizawa Mai.

**Chapter 14**

The team had a meeting on January third bright and early. For the most part they had spent the majority of the break with each other talking amongst other things baseball. This meeting was simply a get together to go over the conditioning and early practice schedule while the weather still kept the team indoors. This was the first time they met as a full team; coach, manager, and advisor included.

Abe was groggy as he got ready. Mentally he promised himself to bring up moving back the time of morning conditioning. They were on break and as far as Abe was concerned he wanted to sleep in. Maybe he could even get a majority of the team to back him.

On the way to school Abe fell in stride with Oki, Mizutani, and Hanai. A blush blossomed on Abe's face when he made eye contact with Oki. The catcher was fairly sure that Oki wouldn't say anything in front of Mizutani and Hanai. But just in case he muttered a silent "please" to the first baseman and shook his head. Oki understood the silent communication and nodded his head in agreement.

Once the quartet entered the class room Abe broke off from the group to hunt down his boyfriend. Abe found the pitcher sitting at one of the desks absentmindedly tossing up the baseball he always carried and catching it. "Mihashi can we talk about something?" Abe asked his love. As they left Abe glanced at Oki who smiled at the couple causing the steely eyed catcher to blush once again.

Mihashi bobbed his head in agreement. Abe gently hooked the pitcher's arm with his hand and lead him out to the hall away from the team.

Once safely away from prying ears the catcher popped his question. "Mihashi, how do you feel about telling the team we're a couple?"

"I, I don't know," the pitcher mumbled. "I'm scared to tell them; but if Abe's with me I'll be alright."

Abe smiled. "My thoughts exactly," he said before giving Mihashi a quick kiss. "Are you ready now, or do you want to wait until after practice?"

"Let's do it now and get it over with," Mihashi decided. Together the couple walked back into the class room to address their teammates. Abe caught Oki's eye and gave the first baseman a warm smile and a small nod.

The pair of Mihashi and Abe walked to the front of the Shiga-sensei's class room. "Hey guys we have an announcement," Abe called, gathering the attention of the nine other teens and two adults. "Suyama and Izumi split the pot."

Coach Momoe and Shiga looked at each other with abrupt confusion on their faces while the rest of the Nishiura baseball team applauded. Abe felt his face heat up but was relieved when Mihashi gave his hand a firm squeeze.

"What's this all about?" The coach asked confused.

Hanai smirked at the big breasted coach. "We had a bet to see when Abe and Mihashi would hook up. Izumi and Suyama had December and it looks like we each owe them five bucks." He then turned to Tajima and yelled over the team's congratulations of both Suyama and Izumi for winning and the new couple, "Hey Taj, who won our side pot?" causing everyone in the room to quiet down.

"What side pot?" Shinooka exclaimed in confusion. "Why weren't we informed about a side pot? What did you two bet on?"

Hanai's devilish grin spread to his ears. "We bet on who was the Seme and who was Uke."

The team including the two adults turned their attention to the smallest player. Tajima mirrored Hanai's grin. "Looks like you owe me an extra five bucks."

The group all looked at the couple standing at the head of the room in unison. "Tajima, Hanai, I'm going to kill you guys for that. I swear to God I'm going to kill you two. And you're both wrong by the way."

"But I saw how you two kissed!" Tajima ejaculated. "Mihashi's definitely the Seme."

"_All we've done is kissed_." Abe hissed in contempt. "And I will not detail our sex lives to you guys."

With their announcement out of the way the pitcher-catcher duo took their seats among the rest of the team as if nothing had happened. Coach Momoe then after a moment's pause walked up to the front of the class room. "Well, now that that's out of the way we can get on to business," she said with a blush. "I was going to ask how everyone's breaks were but I can see that you all had fun." She sent a crooked smile towards the new couple before continuing. "We still have this weak before break ends. But I think that when it does that conditioning in the morning Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and weightlifting in the afternoon will be fine until we can get outside. I'm not going to require you guys play catcher or anything but if you can spare the time I highly recommend it. Except for Abe and Mihashi. What you two do in your free time is up to you, but I want you two throwing a baseball at least three times a week." The room chuckled at Momoe's offhand comment. Abe wanted to get mad at the woman but decided to let it go.

Instead the catcher spoke up to the group as a whole. "Mihashi and I will be throwing in the gym here on Tuesday and Thursday after school and probably again on Saturday. You guys are welcome to join us if you want."

Coach Momoe looked at the team in whole. "If nobody else has any announcements or anything then I'll let you guys get to practice. Hanai practice is up to you, run them however you want. I have to go to work so I won't be joining you." With that Coach Momoe dismissed the meeting.

Once in the hall Abe pulled Mihashi aside. The pitcher had been quiet through the entire meeting. But what worried Abe was Mihashi's hand. When he squeezed Abe's the pitcher's hand was frigid. "Mihashi, are you alright? Is anything worrying you?"

"No," Mihashi whispered. "I was just worried what they would say, what they would think."

Abe slid his arm around Mihashi's shoulders. "They're fine with us. I was a little worried too but if they had a bet going then they couldn't be too disgusted with us." The catcher gave his boyfriend a one armed man hug. "Besides, all that matters is us. I couldn't care less what they think as long as I have you."

The pitcher was silent again. This silence started to irritate Abe. Hadn't Mihashi opened up to the catcher? Hadn't he said he loved Abe?

"Come on guys, don't be late or Hanai'll be pissed," Mizutani called from down the hall.

Abe decided to let Mihashi be but kept an eye on the pitcher during practice. Hanai was generous in practice. Instead of the two hours they normally spent sprinting around the gym he called practice a half hour early. All the boys were exhausted. It was obvious whom had worked out over the break and who hadn't. Most of the boys were slow to warm up and slower than normal in their conditioning with the exception of Hanai and Izumi.

During practice Abe also paid close attention to the team as a whole. As confident as he was that he and Mihashi would be accepted, it still concerned him. Any derision between the team would hurt their progress as a whole, and if any of their teammates had a problem with his and Mihashi's relationship that would be something that they would have to deal with.

Everyone was thankful for the end of practice. Shinooka, Shiga-sensei, and Momoe had left soon after the meeting allowing Hanai to run the practice as he did throughout the winter break. By the time the team entered the locker room a few scattered members of the women's' volleyball club were just arriving for their practices. Abe quickly changed and waited outside for Mihashi.

Minutes passed and the dark haired catcher began to grow impatient. Tajima was the first to exit the locker room; his normally cheerful face drooped into a sullen frown. "Hey Taj, is Mihashi almost ready?" Abe inquired innocently.

When Tajima recognized that it was Abe who asked him the smallest teen's face perked back into its usual smile. "Na," he remarked, "Mihashi'll probably be a few minutes still." With a small wave Tajima disembarked out the nearby doors.

Abe sighed and went back to leaning against the brick wall. Moments after the doors to the school closed behind Tajima Sakaeguchi came out of the locker room with panic tainting his face. "Abe!" He exclaimed upon seeing the catcher. "Mihashi's in there crying but he wont tell us why. I think you need to go in there."

"Where is he?" Abe demanded his anger and temper rising rapidly.

Sakaeguchi quietly lead the way. When the duo entered the locker room every pair of eyes flickered to the catcher as he stormed passed. Nobody spoke to Abe or his guide. It was clear by the fire in his eyes that any comment could jeopardize their safety. Sakaeguchi lead Abe to Mihashi's locker where the smaller teen was curled up on the bench with his head in his knees sobbing quietly into them. Hanai was sitting next to a distraught Mihashi trying to comfort the pitcher.

It was déjà vu for Abe. For the second time the steely eyed catcher felt his world slide back in time, back to when all his efforts meant nothing and Mihashi was but a shell of a man enslaved by his past. The catcher was struck by the scene before him. His heart ached with the pain of seeing his best friend and boyfriend overcome with whatever had caused the turmoil. Slowly he reached out a shaking hand to the boy in front of him. "Mi…ha…shi," Abe gasped, the pain of his friend ripping through his own body choking off Abe's voice.

Hanai looked up and upon seeing Abe quickly cleared away, knowing full well how unstable Abe's emotions could make him. "He won't tell us anything," was all Hanai was brave enough to say.

"Thank you," Abe whispered to the captain, never taking his eyes off the boy in front of him.

The catcher silently slid next to the pitcher. The only acknowledgement Abe received was a fearful sob from Mihashi followed by the pitcher sliding away from his boyfriend. This appalled Abe. As if being best friends with Mihashi wasn't enough the two had declared their love for each other. They had opened up to on another.

In response to Mihashi's isolation Abe again moved closer to his boyfriend but this time as tenderly as he could the steely eyed teen wrapped his arms around Mihashi and pulled the dirty blond pitcher into Abe's chest. This sent Mihashi over the edge. All control he previously had evaporated leaving nothing to stop the onslaught of tears that soaked Abe's shirt. Careful not to disturb the pitcher Abe gently stroked his love's hair, trying his hardest to soothe the distraught pitcher.

As the battery tenderly had their moment; Hanai silently directed the rest of Nishiura baseball team's attention away from the couple. Abe looked over to see the right fielder hurrying the rest of the team out of the area and gave his friend a weak smile. Hanai returned the smile with a pained look of concern before leaving the two alone in the locker room.

An agonizingly long minute passed as Abe held a crying Mihashi. "Mihashi," Abe soothed, "what's wrong? You can talk to me about anything, you know that. What's got you so upset?"

To Abe's satisfaction the pitcher started to calm down. The catcher was beside himself with speculation. There was no way someone from Mihoshi could be at Nishiura, and in their game against Mihoshi Mihashi had patched things up with his old team. There was always Tadashi but how would he know where to find Mihashi and why would he risk it after what Abe did to him at the arcade?

Then it dawned on Abe. Maybe it wasn't something involving baseball. Mihashi's parents were generous, loving people. So it would only be natural that some sick misguided fate would do something to them. "Mihashi I, I wont be able to help if you don't tell me what happened." Abe was on the verge of joining Mihashi's silent breakdown. The pitcher's parents had been so good to Abe. He recalled what the pitcher's mom did for him after he took a fastball to the forehead, how courteous his dad always was to Abe. Every inch of the catcher ached in apprehension.

"So…cruel…" Mihashi whispered between quiet sobs.

Abe didn't know what to do. If something had happened to Mihashi's family then the catcher would break down just like Mihashi. "Calm down love, calm down," Abe tried again. He waited patiently while Mihashi steadied himself.

Slowly the sobs subsided. When the tears stopped flowing Abe lifted Mihashi's tear-streaked face. It pained Abe to see this. With a shaky voice he spoke to his love again. "Now Mihashi, t-tell me what ha-happened."

"H-he is s-so mean," Mihashi gasped in his old unsteady voice.

"Who?" Abe asked relief over his friend's family adding confidence in his voice.

Mihashi turned his head away. "You w-wouldn't w-want to know," Mihashi mumbled. "It'll only u-upset you."

"It'll be even worse if you don't tell me," Abe warned. Even at the meeting Mihashi was acting weird. He wouldn't tell Abe what was on his mind and now he's keeping more secrets from Abe.

The pitcher took a deep breath. "It's…Tajima."

"Tajima?" Abe asked. He had just seen the third baseman a few minutes ago leaving the locker room. Then again, Tajima did mention seeing Mihashi and it was after Tajima left that Sakaeguchi came to get Abe. "What did he do? Did he hurt you?"

Mihashi shook his head. "He didn't do anything. It's what he said."

"And what did he say?" Abe pried hoping to get the smaller boy to finally tell him.

"He…no it's stupid; it's not worth it." Abe glared at the pitcher. He hated it when Mihashi kept stuff from him. Abe was a sane and logical person, so what did Mihashi have to fear? It was Tajima after all he probably just went too far while joking around. "Tajima said I'm turning Nishiura into Mihoshi all over again."

That was unacceptable, simply malicious. Tajima knew better than to say that to Mihashi. Abe had spent the past six months trying to break Mihashi of his middle school curse. How could Tajima be so heartless? Abe had no idea what brought this sudden change in the third baseman. But he had to find out. "Mihashi, I'm going to go talk to Tajima. He's walking home right now I can catch up to him."

"Abe wait!" Mihashi tried to cut in.

But Abe ignored the interjection. "You'll be fine while I'm gone. Get changed and I'll meet you back here in a few minutes." Before Mihashi could stop the steely eyed catcher Abe strode away. He didn't want Mihashi to see the anger building behind his cold grey eyes. Tajima was way out of line and Abe had to set things straight.

Tajima wasn't on the normal path he took home. If he ran the third baseman could have been home, but intuition told Abe that wasn't the case. The frigid grounds were empty spare a few stragglers on their way to club activities. Abe paced the grounds in search any sign of the smaller teen, all the way letting his emotions stew driving himself into a greater and greater frenzy.

And there he was. Leaning up against the trunk of the massive oak tree near the baseball filed was Tajima uncharacteristically deep in thought. Abe had a few things for the catcher to think about and in his irrational mind he made a bee-line straight for the lone figure.

Crunching snow signaled Abe's arrival. Abe stopped a few feet from the smaller teen, fearing that if he came any closer he would do something stupid. The catcher waited for Tajima to look up. The seconds ticked by agonizingly slow as he waited.

Sensing that Tajima wouldn't acknowledge his presence until he spoke, Abe decided to start things off. "I heard what you said to Mihashi. Why would you say that? I thought you two were friends. Why? What changed?" Abe demanded.

At Abe's words the third baseman looked up. Fire unlike anything he had ever seen blazed deep in Tajima's eyes. "Why? You want to know why _I_ said what I did to _Mihashi_?"

"Do you have any idea how he feels?" Abe inquired.

"Have you ever thought about how I felt? How I feel?" The third baseman shot back

Abe was taken aback by Tajima's tone. "How you felt? What are you talking about? How does that have any affect on what you said to Mihashi? We're supposed–"

"I love you, Abe Takaya," Tajima cut in angrily. "And you knew that. I've loved you months before you and Mihashi ever got together."

This pissed Abe off. "You're mad at me. So why did you take it out on Mihashi? He has nothing to do with this!"

"To get back at you!" Tajima yelled. "I got to you the only way I knew how. You don't pay any attention to me but you do to Mihashi!"

"If you have a problem with me then talk to me about it like a man. You don't have to be a pansy and pussyfoot around behind my back." Abe was matching Tajima word for word now. "I told you we could never happen, so why waste your time? Are you a dumbass or something?"

"Don't call me names, you douche. This is all your fault in the first place. You told me you weren't gay, and now you're dating a _guy_. That kinda sorta makes you gay, you retard."

Abe was beyond pissed now. If Tajima was going to bring up the past he should get it right. "Tajima you damn idiot. I never said I wasn't gay. I told you I don't feel the same way. There's a difference you little shit."

The feisty third baseman took a threatening step forward. Abe knew full well that Tajima was just as volatile as he was when mad. But Abe had size, reach, muscle, and something worth fighting for backing him. He glared down at his teammate. "Don't get yourself hurt," he challenged the smaller boy.

To Abe's surprise Tajima smirked. "Threatening me huh? Maybe it would have been better for Mihashi if you would've quit the team. Then maybe he could've found someone worth loving."

"Go ahead and insult me all you want, I don't care," Abe chided.

"Then again," Tajima continued, "if you're all he's got Mihashi must be stupider than we all thought."

Abe's face blanched of all color. He didn't care if Tajima insulted him. Deep down he agreed with some of what the smaller teen was saying. But to insult Mihashi was just beyond tolerable. "You bastard," the catcher growled. "You little fucker I told you not to talk about Mihashi." In two quick strides Abe closed the gap. Rage mangled the catcher's face choking off all logic.

Tajima stood now face to face with the larger teen and realized just how big Abe really was. He wasn't scared of the larger teen, but he also wasn't as stupid as people gave him credit for. Tajima realized now that even though he was still pissed off at the catcher, he might have pushed just a little too far.

The steely eyed catcher glared down at the third baseman. The idiotic expression on Tajima's face continued to fuel the rage taking control of Abe. He relished the feeling of loosing control, of letting his emotions guide his body instead of his mind. In pure instinct Abe raised his fist, cocking it behind his head. Tajima was too close for Abe to miss, and the smaller teen's head was right there waiting. Abe never thought about the consequences. No matter what happened afterward as long as Mihashi still loved him then it would all be worth it.

A yellow flashed flickered before Abe's eyes before he suddenly found himself looking at the sky instead of Tajima. Something heavy had his arms pinned to the ground preventing him from moving. Abe stared at whatever it was pinning him to the ground, completely taken aback. It took a few seconds for the catcher to recognize Mihashi laying on top of him preventing the steely eyed teen from moving. "Mihashi? What? Where did you come from?" He spluttered in shock.

"I heard you two arguing and ran over," the pitcher explained to his boyfriend.

As the bigger teen processed the information Mihashi rose to his feet. Turning to Tajima he locked eyes with third baseman who looked just as stunned as Abe. "Tajima, I heard what you two were saying. I was always watching Abe and saw how much you liked him."

"Mihashi, you…?" Abe trailed off.

"I'm not as dumb as everyone thinks," continued Mihashi. "I wasn't sure how Abe would react to your confession, or even if you would confess at all, but I wanted to give you the chance."

"Mihashi…" Tajima repeated.

The pitcher gave Tajima a smile laced with more sugar than confectionary before walking over and giving the third baseman a hug. "Tajima, you're still my friend and a part of the baseball club."

Abe was amazed at what he was seeing. Mihashi claimed to have heard the argument, which made sense because the pitcher was able to stop Abe from pounding the third baseman into nothingness. He also claimed to know that Tajima was infatuated with Abe and had been for a while, to the point where Mihashi actually put aside his own feelings so that Tajima would have his shot at Abe. The catcher's world had been shaken up. Tentatively he rose to his feet, hoping not to disturb the amends that Tajima and Mihashi were making. Now that Abe's brain was working again he started to process what had happened from a logical standpoint and silently prayed that he and Tajima could overcome their fight.

The smile remained on Mihashi's face as he pulled away from Tajima. The look on the third baseman's face told Abe that he wasn't expecting Mihashi's reaction either. "And Tajima," Mihashi murmured.

"Yes Mihashi?" The third baseman asked, mimicking the relaxed tone Mihashi used.

In one fluid motion Mihashi's hand arced from his side and slapped Tajima across the face. The surprise and force of the blow sent Tajima staggering. "Don't _ever_ insult my boyfriend. You may be the baby in your family Tajima, but not out here. If you have something to say, then say it."

Never had Abe seen Mihashi act so confident, never had the pitcher stuck up for himself or anyone like that, and never had Abe loved Mihashi more. Abe looked in awe at his boyfriend, fighting the urge to kiss him then and there. He had to remind himself that Tajima, whom he had just had a fight with, was still there watching. So Abe settled with a simply holding Mihashi's hand, which to Abe's surprise was blazing hot.

An awkward silence ensued. Abe and Mihashi stood facing Tajima, both sides waiting for the other to make a move. The catcher, reverting back to his rational self, decided to end the silence. They were a team, they were friends, and from the bottom of Abe's heart he didn't want that to change. It was hard enough taking the gamble to be with Mihashi. "Tajima," Abe said, trying to summon the warmth simply being with Mihashi gave him and project it into his voice. "We're still teammates, and above all else still friends. I acted stupidly and I'm sorry. What do you say we put this behind us and go back to being friends?" Abe reluctantly let go of Mihashi's hand and stuck it out for Tajima.

Tajima looked at the hand Abe held out then at the couple standing before him. "I'm sorry Mihashi, Abe. I, I guess I just lost myself. I'm normally not this jealous but I guess seeing you two happy together sent me over the edge." Tajima grasped Abe's hand and did the same with Mihashi. "I hope you two can forgive me. I mean I'm no Nishihiro but that was pretty dumb of me."

"I acted pretty stupid too," Abe chimed in.

"But you had a reason. I just wanted some attention."

"You'll always be a friend Tajima," Mihashi added. "I just hope we can go back to being friends."

"I'll get over Abe soon enough. Hikari keeps telling me she's going to hook me up with one of her friends at in Saitama. She showed me a picture and he's pretty cute."

With that Abe and Mihashi bid Tajima farewell. As they walked toward the CD shop Abe reflected back over everything that happened and all of the questions he had built up inside. "Mihashi," Abe asked after they left the school grounds.

"Yes Abe?"

"What exactly did Tajima say to you?" Abe was curious. The third baseman never actually told Abe what he said.

Mihashi blushed. "It's nothing, don't worry about it."

"I'm just curious about it. He never did tell me. I swear I won't get mad," Abe said innocently.

Mihashi was silent for a second as he thought. Finally he asked "promise?"

"I promise," Abe replied.

"Well, he said that I was causing a rift in the team. He said that because I was going out with you I was driving the team apart with our drama."

This surprised Abe. "Really? And that's what set you off?"

The pitcher shook his head. "No. I was crying because not only was I hurt that he would say something like that to me, but I was mad that…never mind." He concluded, leaving Abe in the dark.

"Mad at what Mihashi?" Abe asked.

Mihashi shook his head again. "You don't wanna hear it. It's nothing important."

Abe let out a loud sigh. "I hate it when you do that you know. If you're thinking it then I want to hear it."

A deep scarlet blush crept over the pitcher's face. "S-sorry Abe," Mihashi replied. "It's just that I was mad because, well…" Mihashi took a deep breath, preparing himself for the worst. "Because it's you. I was mad because he was blaming you. And whenever I get mad I start to cry, it's so embarrassing."

Words failed Abe. It was a foreign feeling, being taken care of by someone else. Abe was always the one doing the parenting and yet here was "meek little Mihashi" fighting to the point of tears all for Abe. It was a humbling feeling for the catcher, knowing that someone besides his parents needed him, wanted him, strived for Abe and him alone.

Abe turned to the pitcher. He moved his mouth, trying in vain to form the words his heart was speaking. But all that came out were gasps and shadows of the poetry ringing inside him. So Abe did the only thing he could think of. Standing on the corner with the gently falling snow swirling around them Abe embraced his lover. With feverish desire Abe attacked Mihashi's lips. In an instant both boys dropped their bags. Mihashi's arm shot around the small of Abe's back pulling the larger catcher closer to his love. Abe responded by slipping his tong past Mihashi's lips invading the smaller teen's cavity, dominating their kiss. Abe continued forward until he had Mihashi pinned against the wall of the CD store. The two boys continued their attacks; Mihashi's hands exploring every inch of Abe's back while Abe's tong caressed each nook and cranny of the pitcher's mouth. The two were oblivious to the world. All Abe knew, the one solid and undeniable fact, was that he was completely and utterly in love with Mihashi Ren, and he wanted nothing to change.

After a minute of intense excitement their need for air trumped all other needs. When they split Abe was hyperaware of Mihashi's hands; one of which was sliding up the skin of his back sending shivers of pleasure quaking through his body while the other was firmly squeezing Abe's right butt cheek just over his boxers. Abe's hands however weren't much better. His left had slipped under the pitcher's shirt and traveled half way up the smaller teen's stomach effectively lifting Mihashi's shirt off. Abe's other arm was cushioning Mihashi's back while his hand had a handful of the dirty blond spikes.

The two looked at each other and blushed before lithely slipping apart, adding conservative space between the two lovers. Both had lust etched in their faces and pure love in their eyes. "Um, maybe we should get going," Abe said, realizing that they were still in public.

"Y-yeah, good idea," Mihashi concurred. "Where to?"

Abe thought for a moment. He knew for a fact his mind was nothing but a hormone soup, bust he still decided to act on his feelings. "My parents are at work and my brother's at a friend's house. We could go there?"

Mihashi knew fully the implications in the catcher's words. He knew, and agreed whole heartedly. "Sure, just let me run home to take a shower."

A coy grin erupted on Abe's face, accompanying the strawberry blush. "You could take one at my house."

So what do you guys think? I wasn't sure what I was going to do with this chapter and then the idea for Tajima hit me. Anyway, I'm debating on doing one of three things. First is to end the story where it is and call it good; second is to continue on and make it longer. Third is to write a sequel. Any thoughts??


	15. Note:

Author's Note:

I have a new story! It's a sequel. The name of the story is _The Right Guy_. Please read and let me know what you think. The more reviews the better the story and faster I can get chapters out.

~ebob


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